Information Technology Governance in Local Government: Audit Committee Responsibilities

The study aims to assess the effectiveness of information technology (IT) governance in local government by examining the audit committee’s role and capabilities relating to IT governance. This study is prompted by a local government IT infrastructure failing to adequately support service delivery to communities due to poor governance skills and knowledge of audit committees. The risk of mismanagement of resources is therefore increased. The study employs a quantitative research approach and a descriptive research design. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from the audit committee members, internal auditors, managers and Chief Audit Executives and Council and municipal management. The researcher used descriptive and inferential statistics, Stata/SE version 16 software, descriptive analysis, chi-square test, effect factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis to measure the relationship between two-factor variables. Kaizer criterion was accepted as the extraction method, while the Cronbach alpha coefficient was used to determine the internal consistency of the identified factors. The study reveals that audit committees are ineffective in executing their IT governance activities. Furthermore, there are areas of concern in IT assurance audits. The internal audit function lacks the skills and technical capacity to provide IT assurance services and therefore not add sufficient value to the municipality. The study concludes that there is a significant statistical correlation (P < 0.001) between poor IT governance and audit committee skills and expertise. The study recommends that the recruitment of audit committee members should consider their experience in IT governance to ensure that auditors are well-equipped to review IT governance assurance effectively. Also, the importance of IT assurance services by competent, skilled internal auditors was expressed. The study contributes to governance literature by providing empirical evidence on audit committees’ IT governance and oversight effectiveness, and also emphasises the need to assess IT engagements by internal auditors. Academic researchers and the National School of Government can use the findings of the study as justification for on minimum required skills and capacity building for audit committee members.