Implementation Model of Operational Auditing in Iranian State-Owned Companies: A Multi-Grounded Theory Approach
Keywords:
Operational Auditing, Performance Evaluation Process, Legal Requirements, Strategic Needs, Public SectorAbstract
Auditing knowledge has advanced significantly in recent decades. The expansion of corporate activities, the increasing complexity of organizational relationships, and technological growth have led to a rising demand for conducting operational audits. However, a significant gap is observed between legal requirements and the lack of an indigenous model for its effective implementation within Iranian state-owned companies. The objective of the present study is to design an implementation model for operational auditing in these companies, considering the environmental characteristics and prevailing conditions of the country. Given the exploratory nature of the research, a qualitative approach and the Multi-Grounded Theory (MGT) method were employed. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted in the first half of 2025 with 14 academic experts and prominent auditing professors possessing professional experience in the public sector. Based on the findings, the final model comprises six main dimensions: the core phenomenon (establishment of an integrated operational auditing system and the institutionalization of the continuous performance evaluation process); causal conditions (governance and legal requirements, strategic needs of senior management, and environmental pressures); contextual factors (organizational structure, governance, organizational culture, and attitudes toward auditing); intervening conditions (resource constraints and methodological challenges); strategies (development of professional capacities and interaction with internal stakeholders); and consequences (enhancement of decision-making quality, improvement of governance and accountability, and development of organizational maturity). The research results indicate that success in establishing operational auditing requires moving beyond a fragmented and project-oriented perspective toward a systematic understanding, where the enhancement of auditors’ technical capabilities is accompanied by strategies for gaining management support and changing attitudes at high organizational levels. This framework allows public sector managers and policymakers to redefine the relationship between legal requirements, managerial needs, and implementation barriers within a coherent model, serving as a roadmap for the effective execution of operational auditing.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Ali Yektay Moghadam (Author); Mohammad Mahmoudi; Donya Ahadianpour Parvin , Seyedeh Atefeh Hosseini (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
