jai | Journal of Accounting and Investment 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Article Type: Research Paper 

  

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal 

Control of Provincial Government  

in Indonesia 
 

 

Rizal Yaya* and Halim Sri Suprobo 

 

 

Abstract: This study aims at examining and analysing factors that cause 
weaknesses in internal control system of provincial local government. Population 

of this study is all 34 provincial governments in Indonesia and the studied object 

is internal control weaknesses identified in the Provincial Government Audit 

Reports produced by the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia. Eighty three 

reports were used as sample ranging from 2011 to 2015. The research model of 

this study indicates adjusted R2 at 86% which is much higher than previous 

studies on this topic, Based on the multiple regression analysis, it is found that 

the size of local government and the use of information technology have a 

significant negative effect on the weaknesses of internal control. This implies that 

Provincial Government needs to use more information technology and allocate 

more resources on internal control improvement. On the other hand, the 

complexity of local government and the quality of human resources have positive 

effect on the weaknesses of internal control. These findings suggest provincial 

governments with large number of sub-districts to put more efforts in internal 

control system improvement than others. The provincial government with higher 

human development index needs more efforts on ethical conduct. This study 

contributes in investigating both financial and non-financial factors affecting 

internal control weaknesses of provincial government for longer period of 

analysis. 

 

Keywords: Internal Control Weaknesses; Local Government Size; Local 

Government Complexity; Human Development Index; Technological Use 

 

 

 

Introduction 
 

Organisation such as local government needs internal control to perform 

their duties to provide services to the community. This includes in all 

aspects of governance such as budget implementation, safeguarding 

resources, accounting and reporting. It is needed because the internal 

control that run well will have implications on the creation of good 

governance (Asare, 2009). Benedek, Szenténé, and Béres  (2014) added 

that those services can improve society’s welfare and prosperity. 
  

In Indonesia, internal control practice for Government institution is  

regulated by the Government Regulation No. 60 year 2008.  The  

 

 

AFFILIATION: 

Department of Accounting, 

Universitas Muhammadiyah 

Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 

 

*CORRESPONDENCE:    

r.yaya@umy.ac.id  

 

THIS ARTICLE IS AVALILABLE IN: 

http://journal.umy.ac.id/index.php/ai  

 

DOI: 10.18196/jai.2003130 
 

CITATION: 

Yaya, R., & Suprobo, H.S. (2019). 

Determinants of Weaknesses in 

Internal Control of Provincial 

Government in Indonesia. Journal 

of Accounting and Investment, 

20(3), 296-309. 

 

ARTICLE HISTORY 

Received: 

12 July 2019 

 

Reviewed: 

4 August 2019 

 

Revised: 

12 August 2019 

 

Accepted: 

7 September 2019 

mailto:r.yaya@umy.ac.id
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Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 297 

regulation is the follow-up of Article 58, Act No. 2 year 2004 on Government  Treasury, 

which requires the government to have detail regulation on Government internal 

control. In that article, it is stated to improve the performance, transparency, and 

accountability of government financial management, the President as the Head of 

Government should perform and organize internal control system comprehensively for 

the whole government organization. This regulation is in line with studies on the 

importance of internal control in public sector. Asare (2009) explained that a good 

internal control can contribute to the good governance and accountability process 

through their assessment on the effectiveness of key organisational, controls and risk 

management process. He added that the development of internal audit practice has put 

that profession as partner to governance bodies with strategic focus on the 

improvement of organisational governance. This view is supported by empirical studies 

in developed country like United States. A study by Rich and Zhang (2014) on the 

effectiveness of internal audit in municipals in the United States, found that 

municipalities with audit committee tend to have fewer internal control problems and 

also has less likely to experience with significant financial reporting failures. 

 

Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia namely as Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan (BPK) 

has regularly examined and supervised government internal control system. The 

objective of the examination is to assess the effectiveness of an entity’s internal control 
three areas: accounting and reporting control, budget implementation control and 

internal control structure. The examination is based on the assessment of the internal 

control weaknesses in accounting and reporting; weaknesses in controlling budget 

implementation; and weaknesses in internal control structure. Based on their reports, 

the internal control weaknesses of local government in Indonesia have steadily 

increased from year 2011 to 2015 (Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan, 2016). 

 

5036 5307
5948

7544 7661

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

 
 

Figure 1 Number of Audit Board’s Findings on Internal Control Weaknesses  
of Indonesian Local Governments 

Source: Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan (2012-2016) 

 

Figure 1 shows that the number of problems found in internal control weaknesses 

increases every year. If it is compared 5036 findings in the year 2011, the findings of 

internal control weaknesses increased 50% within five years period. This condition 

indicates greater challenges faced by civil servants in implementing effective internal 



Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 298 

control system. For 2015, it was reported 10,198 cases with 15,568 findings comprising 

7,661 (49%) on internal control weakness and 7,907 (51%) non-compliance with 

regulation. 

 

This situation shows that it is not enough for just having the Audit Board in place to 

supervise Government internal control. Therefore, there is a need to find out factors 

which can ensure an effective internal control system. Previous studies undertaken by 

Kristanto (2009), Nurwati and Trisnawati (2015), Putri and Mahmud (2015) and Yamin 

and Sutaryo (2015) have investigated factors, such as size of local government, 

complexity of local government, total expenditure and total revenue of local govern-

ment as determinants of internal control weaknesses. However, these studies had 

limitations in terms of independent variables and period of analysis. To improve the 

research model, this study uses combination of financial and non-financial independent 

variables. The use of non-financial variables is suggested by Doyle, Ge, and McVay 

(2007) when they investigate profit-oriented organisations after Sarbanes Oxley 

regulation. The financial variable is size or total asset of the local government, while the 

non-financial variables are economic growth, local government complexities, quality of 

human resources and the use of information technology. In addition, this study extends 

the period of analysis from one year into five years data analysis. By investigating both 

financial and non-financial variables and longer period of analysis, this study contributes 

to wider scope of research variable and greater validity of generalisation for Indonesian 

provincial government.  

 

The purpose of this study is to identify factors that influence weaknesses in internal 

control of provincial governments in Indonesia. The increases weaknesses found in 

internal control examination needs further investigation on factors affecting them. This 

study investigates not only the financial variable but also non-financial variables as 

determinants of the increase weaknesses. A finding of this study is expected to be able 

to contribute in assisting Central Government as regulator and local governments as 

executor in identifying the most influential determinants on the internal control 

weaknesses of Indonesian local government. 

 

 

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development 
 

Internal Control System 

 

The Committee of Sponsoring Organisation of The Treadway Commission (COSO) defines 

that “Internal control is a process, effected by an entity’s directors, management, and 
other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement 

of objectives relating to operations, reporting, and compliance” (COSO, 2013). This 
definition has been adopted in the Government Regulation (PP) no 60 year 2008 that 

internal control is an integrated process on actions and activities which are continuously 

performed by top management and all employees to give reasonable assurance in 

achieving organisation goals through effective and efficient activities, reliable financial 

report, protecting government asset, and compliance with regulation. Government 



Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 299 

Internal Control System (GICS) is an internal control system performed in the whole area 

of central and local government. In its implementation, it should incorporate fairness, 

and appropriateness principle considering size, complexity, and nature of task and 

function of the government institution. 

 

Based on the Government Regulation no 60 year 2008, Government Internal Control 

System comprises:  

 

Control Environment 

 

Top management and all employees of government institution should create and 

enhance the environment in all area of organisation which leads to positive behaviour 

and support for health management and internal control.  

 

a. Risk Assessment 

Internal control should make an assessment on risk faced by the organisation 

both from internal and external. Risk assessment starts with setting up 

organisational objectives and goals which are consistent at institution level and 

activity level. Then, the Government institution identifies risks that can obstruct 

goals achievement whether from internal or external of the institution. The top 

management of the government institution should formulate appropriate risk 

management approach and risk control activities to reduce the risk. 

 

b. Risk Control 

Risk control helps to ensure top management policy has been implemented. In 

this regard, control activities should be efficient and effective in achieving organi-

sation goals.  

 

c. Information and Communication 

Information should be recorded and reported to the head of Government 

Agencies and other parties specified. Government agencies should have both 

financial and non-financial information relating to external and internal events. 

Such information shall be communicated in a form and within the time frame, 

enabling the concerned to exercise internal control and operational 

responsibilities. 

 

d. Monitoring of Internal Control 

Monitoring should be able to assess the quality of performance over time and 

ensure that recommendations of audit results from other reviews can be followed 

up immediately. Ongoing monitoring is conducted through routine management, 

supervision, benchmarking, reconciliation and other related actions in the 

performance of the task. Separate evaluations are conducted through self-

assessment, review and testing of the effectiveness of the Internal Control System 

that can be carried out by government internal oversight apparatus or external 

government parties. 

 



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Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 300 

Stewardship Theory 

 

Studies on the internal control system can be analysed based on stewardship theory and 

accountability theory. Donaldson and Davis (1991) explained that Stewardship theory is 

based on the assumption that managers’ motives are aligned with the objectives of their 
principals. Managers are not motivated by individual goals but rather are stewards. 

Thus, under this theory, managers will behave and act according the common goal. This 

is applicable to the local government situation. According to this theory, government 

apparatus will behave and work according to the common interests referring to society’s 
interest. 

 

Under stewardship theory, in the situation of conflict of interest between steward and 

principal, the steward will strive to work together rather than against the principal. The 

logic consideration to this is that to achieve common goals by behaving according to the 

principal’s expectation. Stewardship theory explains a strong relationship between 
organisation success with the owner’s satisfaction. Therefore, the government will do its 
obligation to fulfil the interest of the people. Whenever their’s interests have been met, 
people as the owner will satisfy with the performance of the government. The successful 

government performance indicates that internal control within the Government Agen-

cies has run well and the organisation objectives have been achieved optimally. 

 

Accountability Theory 

 

Accountability is the concept which has a broader scope than stewardship. Stewardship 

refers to managing activity to serve the principal without any obligation to report it. 

Meanwhile, accountability refers to the steward’s accountability to the party who gave 
authority (Mardiasmo, 2002). Thus, accountability is the form to be accountable for one 

party to the other party. Frink and Klimoski (2004) said that Accountability involves an 

actor or agent in a social context who is potentially subject to observation and 

evaluation by some audience(s). Based on the accountability theory, an organisation is 

given the obligation to provide accountability regarding the control of resources used by 

the organisation. The existence of good controls allows the organisation to provide 

better accountability and is relevant to the actual situation. When the internal control of 

an organisation goes well, then the accountability that will be provided by the 

organisation will also be better than the organisation that has weak internal control.  

 

Hypotheses Development 

 

Putri and Mahmud (2015) found that government size has a negative effect on the inter-

nal control weaknesses, indicating that the higher government size the lower internal 

control weaknesses. This is different from Kristanto (2009) who found that local govern-

ment size has positive effect on internal control weakness of local government, meaning 

that local government with high asset tends to have high internal control weaknesses. 

Based on accountability theory, local government with bigger size indicates to have 

more source of resources which will drive them to be more accountable. The size of 

government determines the quality of internal control. The bigger the size of a govern-



Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 301 

ment the more complex the problem will be. Therefore, if the size of the government 

gets bigger, without any development, the internal control of the local government will 

be weakened. In contrast, local government internal control will be effective if the size 

of the government is small as the problem is relatively fewer. Based on this argument, it 

can be formulated hypothesis 1 as follows: 

 

H1: The size of the local government has a positive effect on the weaknesses of local 

government's internal control. 

 

 

The result of Putri and Mahmud (2015) shows that the economic growth of local 

government has no effect on internal financing of local government. However, Mahmud 

and Utaminingsih (2014) found that economic growth negatively affects the weaknesses 

of local government internal controls. Economic growth means that local government 

would have more potential resources to account for. It is expected that local 

government in the area with higher economic growth will be driven to better 

accountability through reducing the number of internal control weaknesses. Rapid 

economic growth also indicates a well-run local government internal control. Increasing 

economic growth will lead to improved implementation of internal controls as well. 

Because the better the internal control level will result in more rapid economic growth 

of a region. Therefore, hypothesis 2 is formulated as follows: 

 

H2: Economic growth negatively affects the weaknesses of local government internal 

controls. 

 

 

Previous research conducted by Saputro and Mahmud (2015) found that the increase 

and decrease in local government complexity measured by using the number of districts 

within the local government will not affect the occurrence of cases of internal control 

weaknesses. In contrast to the results of research studies by Doyle et al. (2007) in 

private sector, they found that the complexity measured using figures from entity-

specific reporting statements, segment reports, and foreign currency translations has an 

influence on the weaknesses of internal control. The more complex the local 

government the more complicated internal control that must be managed. As local 

governments become more complex, there will be difficulties in monitoring and 

managing them. Therefore, the increased complexity of local government will result in 

increased weaknesses of their internal control. Based on the discussion it can be 

formulated hypothesis as follows: 

 

H3: Local government complexities have a positive effect on the weaknesses of local 

government internal control. 

 

 

Nafidah (2011) conducted research on the influence of human resource quality on 

internal control system by using indicators of education, experience, and training. The 



Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 302 

study found that education and training have a significant influence on internal control 

system, while experience has no influence on the internal control system. 

 

The link between the quality of human resources and internal control is quite close. 

Human resources are responsible for carrying out basic tasks and functions of an 

organisation. Based on stewardship theory, the area with high human development 

index has chance to have better quality and competency of human resources. This, in 

turn, is expected to have better internal control. This control will be effective when the 

capacity and capability of human resources are met. However, when the available 

human resources are inadequate or incompetent, there will be weaknesses of internal 

control. According to this argument, the following hypothesis is formulated as follows: 

 

H4: The quality of human resources negatively affects the weaknesses of local 

government internal control. 

 

 

Yamin and Sutaryo (2015) suggest that the use of ICTs as measured by e-Government 

ratings does not affect the weaknesses of internal control. However, Ardi (2013) found 

that the utilisation of reliable information technology will create effective internal 

control. This is because the progress and utilisation of information technology affect the 

development of accounting information system in terms of data processing, internal 

control of the organisation and increasing the number and quality of information in 

financial reporting. From the perspective of accountability theory, the existence of 

technology information supports local government to perform their accountability 

through reduction of internal control weakness. Therefore, when organisations use 

more information technology, the weakness of control that will be encountered in the 

organisation will be less. Based on this argument, it can be formulated hypothesis as 

follows: 

 

H5: The use of information technology has a negative effect on the weakness of local 

government's internal control. 

 

 

Research Method 
 

Sample 

 

Population of this research is all Provincial Government in Indonesia. The object of the 

study is internal control weaknesses identified in the Provincial Government Audit Re-

ports produced by the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia. The sample in this study 

is 83 reports audit reports produced by the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia 

ranging from 2012 to 2016 for the Budget year between 2011 to 2015. The process of 

data selection is based on as follows. Table 1 shows the criteria in Selecting Research 

Sample. 

 



Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 303 

Table 1 Criteria in Selecting Research Sample  

No Criteria Total 

1 Total number of available Provincial Government audit report 2011- 2015 168 

2 Number of research object with negative economic growth  (5) 

3 Number of research object without e-Government ranking (58) 

4 Outlier (22) 

5 Research object with complete data 83 

Total sample for five years observation based on purposive sampling method of selection 83 

 

Types of Data 

 

Data used for all investigated variables are secondary data. These data were obtained 

from the website of the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia, Statistics Bureau and 

the Ministry of Information and Communication. The Audit Report of Semester 

Examination Result Report (IHPS) published by the Audit Board was obtained from the 

Audit Board website (www.bpk.go.id). Data on the rate of GDP, the number of districts 

and HDI were obtained from the Statistical Bureau website (www.bps.go.id). Finally, 

data on the use of information technology were obtained from the website of the 

Ministry of Information and Communication (www.pegi.layanan.go.id). Table 2 shows 

the measurement of research variables. 

 

Table 2 Measurement of The Variables 

Variables Measurement 

Internal Control Weakness Number of cases of internal control weaknesses and reports + 

Number of cases of internal control weakness in the implemen-

tation of revenue and expenditure budget + Number of cases of 

weaknesses in control structure.  

Size Total Asset 

Economic Growth Economic growth of province 

Government Complexities Number of districts 

Human resource quality Human Development Index 

The use of information 

technology 

e-government ranking 

 

Data Analysis 

 

This research used multiple regression statistical analysis of SPSS version 22. The equa-

tion of the multiple regressions is as follows:  

 

WoIC = α + β1Size + β2Ecgrowth + β3Compl + β4HDI + β5Erank + ε 
 

Notes: 

WoIC = Weaknesses on Internal control  

α  = Constant  
β  = Coefficient 
Size = Local Government Size 

Ecgrowth = Economic Growth 

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http://www.pegi.layanan.go.id/


Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 304 

Compl = Local Government Complexities 

HDI = Human resource quality 

Erank = Information technology usage 

ε = Error 
 

 

Result and Discussion 
 

Testing the Assumption of Linear Regression 

 

The result of the normality test in this study is based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov One-

Sample test. The test result shows that the K-S value is 0.200 with a significance value 

above 0.05. This indicates that the residual value is normally distributed or meets the 

classical assumption. The result of the autocorrelation test shows that the Durbin 

Watson (DW) value is 1.802 with the total unit of analysis (n) is 83 and the number of 

independent variables (k) is 5 so that the dU value is 1.7728 and the dL value is 1.5183. 

Therefore, as 1.7728 <1.802 <2.4817 or dU <dW <(4-dL), it can be concluded that the 

data in this study are free from autocorrelation problems. Multicollinearity test results 

show VIF < 10 and Tolerance > 0.10 from each variable. This indicates that there is no 

multicollinearity in the variables studied. Finally, in terms of heteroscedasticity, data can 

be concluded to be free from heteroscedasticity problem if it has a significant value 

greater than 0,05. The result of heteroscedasticity test of this data show significance 

value greater than 0,05. This indicates the data of this study is free from the 

heteroscedasticity problem. 

 

Descriptive Statistics 

 

Statistics descriptive shows data about minimum, maximum, mean and standard 

deviation of variables investigated (Table 3). Independent variable of weaknesses of 

internal control varies from 20 to 372 weaknesses. Mean data of 139 indicates that 

there is still a high number of internal control weaknesses. 

  

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics 
Variabel N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation 

WoIC 83 20 372 139.40 77.159 

Size 83 962,165,353,684 425,353,600,919,700 33,394,133,283,316 94,655,187,934,706 

Ecgrowth 83 0.00 0.21 0.0623 0.02508 

Complexity 83 44 664 200.20 175.443 

HDI 83 55.55 78.99 67.5747 4.91630 

e-rank 83 1.2 3.39 2.2837 0.56013 

 

Regression Testing Results 
 

Table 4 shows the Regression Test Result. It can be seen that the result of determination 

coefficient test shows that the value of Adjusted R2 is 0,860.  This figure indicates that 

86.0% of the variation of the dependent variable (weakness of internal control) can be 

explained by the variation of independent variables in this study (Total Assets, Economic 

Growth, complexity, HDI and the use of information technology).  



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Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 305 

The result of simultaneous test (F statistic test) shows significance at 0.000. This means a 

level of significance of <5% (α = 0.05) which means the hypothesis is accepted. It can be 
concluded that the size of local government, economic growth, local government 

complexity, the quality of human resources and the utilisation of information technology 

simultaneously have a significant effect on the weaknesses of internal control. 

 

Table 4 Regression Test Result 

Variables B Value Sig. Value 

Total Asset -1.357E-13 .001 

GDP 60.444 .646 

Complexity .429 .000 

HDI 3.872 .000 

e-rank -14.719 .044 

F-test  0.000 

Adj R Square  .860 

 

The t-test result for hypothesis one has significance value equals to 0.001 and negative 

coefficient direction of -1.357. This can be concluded that if there is an increase in the 

size of local government it will decrease the number of cases of weaknesses of internal 

control. This hypothesis is rejected because of having negative direction.  The results of 

this study are not in line with research Kristanto (2009) who found that the size of local 

governments has a positive influence on the weaknesses of local government internal 

control. However, this finding is in line with Putri and Mahmud (2015) meaning that the 

larger the size of local government, the weakness of internal control will be smaller. This 

indicates that local government with higher asset has been able to use the asset to im-

prove internal control. This also supports stewardship theory that government as an 

agent will use resources that the government has to meet people’s expectation to have 
good government practice.  

 

T-test result for hypothesis two has a significance value of 0.646 and positive coefficient 

direction equal to 60.444. As it has significance value above 0.05, hypothesis two is 

rejected. The result of this study is not in line with research of Hartono, Mahmud, and 

Utaminingsih (2014). However, it is in line with the research of Putri and Mahmud 

(2015) indicating that high economic growth does not necessarily guarantee its internal 

control is also better than local governments that have lower economic growth. Thus, 

economic growth in local government can not be used as an indicator of the causes of 

weaknesses of local government's internal control system. 

 

The test results for hypothesis three has a significance value below 5% (α = 0.05) that is 
equal to 0.000 and have direction of positive coefficient. That is, if there is an increase in 

the number of districts by 1, will have an impact on the increase in internal control 

weakness of 0.429 cases. The conclusion of these results is that hypothesis three is 

accepted because the test results show a positive and significant direction. In 

conclusion, the more complex the local government, the more weaknesses found in 

local government control. The results of this study are in line with research Nurwati and 

Trisnawati (2015). Therefore, provincial governments with large number of districts in 



Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 306 

their area, then the local government will be difficult in implementing internal control. 

When the complexity of local government is high, internal controls and controls must 

also be more complex. This happens because the scope of government in conducting 

supervision and control will become more widespread. 

 

T-test result hypothesis four has a significance value below 5% (α = 0.05) or equal to 
0.000 with positive direction at 3.872 coefficient. That is, if there is an increase of 1 

human development index, it will have an impact on increase of the internal control 

weaknesses by 3.872 cases. This means that hypothesis four is rejected because the test 

results show a positive direction. In conclusion the better the quality of human 

resources, there will be more weaknesses cases found in local government internal 

control. This indicates that the better the quality possessed by a person then there is a 

tendency of the person to abuse its advantages to committing fraud. This cheating can 

be an act that deviates from the duty that should be met. Therefore, the existing work 

environment in the government tends to be unhealthy. This has led to the finding of 

more internal control weaknesses in the local government. The results of this study are 

not in line with the study Nafidah (2011) but in line with the formulated hypothesis. 

 

Test results for hypothesis five obtained t value -2.052 with a significance value below 

5% (α = 0.05) which is equal to 0.044 and has a negative direction of -14.719. Thus, 
every increase of one point of the use of information technology, it will have an impact 

on the decrease in internal control weakness by 14.719 cases. Hypothesis five is 

accepted because the test result is significantly negative. This indicates that the more 

local government use information technology the lesser the weakness of internal 

control. The results of this finding are not in line with research Yamin and Sutaryo (2015) 

but in line with the formulated hypothesis. 

 

 

Conclusion 
 

This study has demonstrated practices of internal control weaknesses in provincial 

governments in Indonesia and investigated their determinant factors. There are four 

variables which are found significant influence toward asset, complexity, quality of 

human resources and the use of information technology. One variable of economic 

growth is found not significant influence. Variables which have positive effects are the 

complexity of local government and quality of human resources. This indicates that the 

more complex the provincial government and the higher that human development index 

in the region, the higher internal control weaknesses may occur. This implies that 

government with complex characteristics and in the area with high human development 

index should be more aware of internal control weaknesses. This finding does not in line 

with stewardship theory where the more complex their stakeholders, the lower internal 

control weaknesses in the organisation. Variables which have negative effects are asset 

and the use of information technology. This supports accountability theory that local 

government with greater asset to account for and greater resources in information 

technology would tend to be more accountable through reduction of internal control 

weaknesses. In practice, these findings imply that to reduce internal control weaknesses 



Yaya & Suprobo 

Determinants of Weaknesses in Internal Control of Provincial Government in Indonesia 

 

 

Journal of Accounting and Investment, 2019 | 307 

in local governments, the local governments need to use more information technology; 

allocate more resources for improving internal control system, anticipate the increasing 

complexities of local government, and put emphasis on moral values for human 

resources. 

 

This study has some limitations. First, it only investigates provincial government for four 

years report. This means that it has weaknesses in terms of lower external validity. 

Second, it only used asset as financial variable and economic growth, local government 

complexities, quality of human resources and the use of information technology as non-

financial variables. To improve the validity of the research, there is a need to apply this 

study to the whole city and regent local governments; to include much longer year of 

observation, eg five years observation; to update date to the latest year; and to add 

other financial and non financial variables eg. leadership style and amount budget for 

internal control system development.  

 

 

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