EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FORENSIC ACCOUNTING AUDITS IN PREVENTING SUPPLIER COLLUSION IN ZIMBABWE’S PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31000/combis.v7i4.14900Abstract
The public procurement system plays a crucial role in the country’s resource allocation system. It is also crucial for service delivery and governance. Despite all this this system sems to be most vulnerable to fraud and supplier collusion. The regulatory authority (PRAZ) has enacted the 2017 Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act. Despite this collusion has persisted. This has been aligned to weak oversight and limited enforcement of audit recommendations. Traditional audits have failed to detect the complex collusive practices like bid rigging and price-fixing. The use of investigative accounting (forensic accounting) becomes a suitable solution. Its techniques can unearth irregular financial patterns. They also detect hidden relationships, offering a strategic safeguard against procurement fraud. This paper made use of the Institutional Theory and fraud-related frameworks. The study employed the quantitative methodology. This called for a cross-sectional survey. Thus, a population of 112 respondents was obtained. The members came from the Zimbabwe’s ministries, local authorities, and parastatals. Some respondents also came from forensic accountants, the procurement authority and the anti-corruption authority. SPSS was used to analyse data through SEM, regression analysis and AMOS. The findings reflected that a most of the respondents agreed on the effectiveness of forensic accounting audits. The regression results revealed a +`strong positive association with procurement effectiveness (β = 0.369, p < 0.01). The study recommended institutionalising forensic audit practices, capacity-building, and stricter enforcement to enhance procurement integrity and accountabilityReferences
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