Enforcing budgetary and legal compliance in the government sector: An assessment of preauditing in the state of Kuwait

Auditing has become both a vital activity that validates correct operations of an accounting system and is an important tool to measure financial and public accountability. Preauditing implementation in Kuwait since 1994 has been designed to ensure and improve compliance with budgetary laws and regulations by governmental units before budget execution. The purpose of this study is to examine whether compliance has been improved in those governmental units that apply preauditing and to determine the factors that affect compliance with budgetary laws and regulations. The research framework is based on a literature review of governmental auditing, enforcement research, and the principal-agent model. Data for this study were obtained from survey questionnaires from financial auditors and managers in governmental units that apply preauditing and those that do not yet apply it. Also, interviews with key public officials added objective and documentary data about preauditing. Factor analysis was employed to summarize the main research independent variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the association and relationship between the independent factors and compliance with budgetary laws and regulations (dependent variable) and test the research hypotheses. The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that four factors had a statistically significant association with the dependent variable. These factors were organizational enforcement of penalties, the financial managers' ethics and discretion, political enforcement by the National Assembly, and organizational control and accountability. About 50% of the variation is explained by the factors in the regression equation. The survey results indicate that preauditing has been successful in leading to improvement in compliance in those governmental units that apply preauditing. This finding is supported by the results of the objective data about the governmental units that applied preauditing for three fiscal years. On the other hand, a one way ANOVA analysis showed no significant statistical difference in regard to improvement in compliance with budgetary laws and regulations between governmental units that apply preauditing and those that do not. Based on the study's findings, practical recommendations are presented to improve compliance and the role of preauditing, as well as suggested directions for future research.