The Importance of Good Corporate Governance Practices and
Internal Audit in the Prevention of Fraud: The Case of Moroccan
Public enterprise

Mehdi Gharrafi 1, Nacer Mahouat 2, Kaoukabi Mohammed 3, Hajar Kobi 4, Benlakouiri Abderrahim 5, & Habbani Souad 6

https://doi.org/10.62271/pjc.16.4.781.796

The context of this research is that there are still many cases of fraud that
occur in companies, central government, local authorities or public institutions. The
purpose of this study is to determine whether and to what extent internal audit and
good governance play a role in preventing fraud in Moroccan public enterprise. The
independent variable is “internal audit” and “good governance,” while the
dependent variable is “fraud prevention.” We adopted a post-positivist posture, a
hypothetico-deductive logic and a quantitative approach. The research population
is made up of internal auditors, a total of 35 people in Moroccan public enterprise.
We used a non-probability sampling technique, more precisely, the saturated sample
technique, and then multiple regression to model fraud prevention and its
determinants. The results of the study show that internal audit and good governance
have a positive and significant role in fraud prevention. In addition, internal audit
and good governance contribute 49.2% in the prevention of fraud.

Keywords: Internal audit, good corporate governance, fraud prevention,
Moroccan public enterprise