Implications of Whistleblowing and Internal Audit on Fraud Prevention in Corporate Governance in Indonesia: A Sys-tematic Literature Review
Keywords:
corporate governance, fraud, internal audit, whistleblowingAbstract
Fraud remains a crucial issue in corporate governance practices in Indonesia, both in the public and private sectors. Various efforts have been made through strengthening internal control systems, optimizing the role of internal audit, and implementing whistleblowing systems. However, corruption, financial statement manipulation, and misuse of funds still occur frequently. This condition indicates that corporate oversight mechanisms are not yet functioning optimally, especially because internal audit and whistleblowing systems are often implemented separately. This study aims to systematically examine the implications of whistleblowing and internal audit in preventing fraud in corporate governance in Indonesia. This study uses the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method with a qualitative approach to relevant scientific articles. The results of the study show that internal audit plays an important role in assessing the effectiveness of internal controls and risk management, while whistleblowing serves as an early disclosure mechanism for fraudulent practices that are difficult to identify through conventional audit procedures. In addition, the literature also confirms that the integration of internal auditing and violation reporting systems can increase transparency, strengthen accountability, and support the realization of more effective corporate governance. Thus, the synergy between these two mechanisms is an important strategy in strengthening fraud prevention in Indonesia.
References
Boufounou, P., Eriotis, N., Kounadeas, T., Argyropoulos, P., & Poulopoulos, J. (2024). Enhancing Internal Control Mechanisms in Local Government Organizations: A Crucial Step towards Mitigating Corruption and Ensuring Economic Development. Economies , 12 (4). https://doi.org/10.3390/economies12040078
Chen, L., Xiu, B., & Ding, Z. (2025). Finding Misstatement Accounts in Financial Statements Through Ontology Reasoning. IEEE Access , 13 , 124449–124462. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3014620
Ehrmann, T., & Prinz, A. (2025). The auditing game: the dark side of the private provision of a public good. European Journal of Law and Economics , 59 (2), 329–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-023-09785-6
Hastuti, TD, Indarto, SL, & Claudia, G. (2023). COULD PERSONALITY, CHARACTERISTICS OF VIOLATIONS, AND PERCEP-TIONS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT BE A FACTOR DRIVING THE WHISTLEBLOWING INTEN-TION? Business: Theory and Practice , 24 (2), 360–370. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2023.17371
Herreros-Martínez, A., Magdalena-Benedicto, R., Vila-Francés, J., Serrano-López, A.J., Pérez-Díaz, S., & Martínez-Herráiz, J.J. (2025). Applied Machine Learning to Anomaly Detection in Enterprise Purchase Processes: A Hybrid Approach Using Clustering and Isolation Forest. Information (Switzerland) , 16 (3). https://doi.org/10.3390/info16030177
Jensen, M. C., & M. W. H. (1976). theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure .
Kagias, P., Garefalakis, A., Passas, I., Kyriakogkonas, P., & Sariannidis, N. (2024). Whistleblowing Based on the Three Lines Model. Ad-ministrative Sciences , 14 (5). https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14050083
Lu, Y., Hao, J., & Tang, X. (2025). Dual-model synergy for audit opinion prediction: A collaborative LLM agent framework approach. In-ternational Review of Economics and Finance , 104 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iref.2025.104642
Maulidi, A., Girindratama, MW, Putra, AR, Sari, RP, & Nuswantara, DA (2024). Qualitatively beyond the ledger: unraveling the interplay of organizational control, whistleblowing systems, fraud awareness, and religiosity. Cogent Social Sciences , 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2320743
Nadirsyah, Indriani, M., & Mulyany, R. (2024). Enhancing fraud prevention and internal control: the key role of internal audit in public sector governance. Cogent Business and Management , 11 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2382389
Nasir, A., Wan Ismail, WA, Kamarudin, KA, Zarefar, A., & Armadani. (2024). Examining the impact of corporate governance and family ownership on corporate performance: evidence from the Indonesian Stock Exchange. In Cogent Business and Management (Vol. 11, Issue 1). Cogent OA. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2339546
Nindito, M., Afianti, I., Koeswayo, PS, & Tanzil, ND (2024). AGENCY EFFECTS: RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT FRAUD IN INDONESIA. Economic Horizons , 26 (2), 111–125. https://doi.org/10.5937/ekonhor2402117N
Prof. Dr. Sugiyono. (2022). Quantitative, Qualitative, and R&D Research Methods (2nd Edition). Alfabeta Publisher.
Putra, I., Sulistiyo, U., Diah, E., Rahayu, S., & Hidayat, S. (2022). THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNAL AUDIT, RISK MANAGEMENT, WHISTLEBLOWING SYSTEM AND BIG DATA ANALYTICS ON THE FINANCIAL CRIME BEHAVIOR PREVENTION. Cogent Economics and Finance , 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2022.2148363
Sari, MP, Mahardika, E., Suryandari, D., & Raharja, S. (2022). The audit committee as moderating the effect of hexagon's fraud on fraudulent financial statements in mining companies listed on the Indonesia stock exchange. Cogent Business and Management , 9 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2150118
Stein, E., & da Cunha, P. R. (2024). Professional skepticism of internal auditors and perception of risks in internal controls. Revista Conta-bilidade e Financas , 35 (96). https://doi.org/10.1590/1808-057x20241922.en
Tarjo, T., Vidyantha, HV, Anggono, A., Yuliana, R., & Musyarofah, S. (2022). The effect of enterprise risk management on prevention and detection of fraud in Indonesia's local government. Cogent Economics and Finance , 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2022.2101222
The Institute of Internal Auditors. (2024). Global Internal Audit Standards . https://www.theiia.org/globalassets/site/standards/editable-versions/global-internal-audit-standards-indonesian.pdf
Tuanakotta, MT (2010). Forensic Accounting and Investigative Audit . Salemba Empat.
Wahyudi, S., Achmad, T., & Pamungkas, ID (2022). Prevention Village Fund Fraud in Indonesia: Moral Sensitivity as a Moderating Variable. Economies , 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.3390/economies10010026
Yangyan, L., & Tingting, C. (2025). CRAFIC Framework: Multi-Account Collaborative Fraud Detection, Efficient Feature Extraction and Relationship Modeling Combined with CNN-LSTM and Graph Attention Network. IET Communications , 19 (1). https://doi.org/10.1049/cmu2.70014
Yanuarisa, Y., Irianto, G., Djamhuri, A., & Rusydi, MK (2025). Exploring the internal audit of public procurement governance: a systematic literature review. Cogent Business and Management , 12 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2025.2485411
Yazid, H., Wiyantoro, LS, Ismail, T., & Ismawati, I. (2025). Performance determinants of higher education institutions and the mediating role of quality culture: internal auditors' perspectives. Cogent Business and Management , 12 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2025.2455537

