Avaliação do Controle Interno e Tamanho dos Órgãos sob Jurisdição do Tribunal de Contas do Ceará (TCE/CE)

This paper analyzes the association between internal control assessment and the size of public agencies under the jurisdiction of the Court of Audit of Ceara (TCE/CE) based on 2016 data from a sample of 57 agencies. Internal control assessment is performed using the forms specified in TCE/CE normative instruction #03/2015, which is based on the framework of the COSO. The contingency variable ‘public agency size’ is measured based on budget, expenditure and number of staff (total and active). Our factorial analysis extracted 6 internal control components, diverging from the norm. The factors explained ~70% of the observed variance in internal control assessment, especially the factor ‘performance and responsibilities of top management’. There are association, at different levels of interaction, between internal control assessment and public agency size. This does not entirely support the tenets of Contingency Theory, pointing to the need for further studies in this area of public administration.