Internal audit in the federal organizations of Malaysia : is there light at the end of the long dark tunnel?

Internal audit is supposed to help members of organizations to improve their business activities. But the findings from in-depth interviews with internal auditors from a total of 40 federal government ministries, departments and agencies in Malaysia, conducted in the middle of 2004, have revealed a number of serious shortcomings. Most notable of these shortcomings are that many internal audit units have a shortage of staff, and that the audit staff lack internal audit skills. In addition, a majority of the audit units still employ outdated audit practices, and have failed to get the right level of support and assistance from the Treasury. Worse still, their operational effectiveness and efficiency is threatened by the high-handed conduct of the National Audit Department which arbitrarily and unilaterally shuffles staff between the body and internal audit units. With national and pubic sector surrounding leaving much to be desired for in regard to transparency and public accountability of the major actors and the fact that Malaysia is a large power distance society, it may not be too far fetch to expect the internal audit quagmire to continue to take place into the foreseeable future

Influence of constituent materials on the impact toughness and fracture mechanisms of hot-roll-bonded aluminum multilayer laminates

Two aluminum multilayer laminates have been processed by hot roll bonding following similar processing paths. The first one is constituted by alternated Al 2024 and Al 1050 layers (ALH19) and the second one by alternated Al 7075 and Al 1050 layers (ADH19). The influence of the constituent materials in the multilayer laminates both during the processing at high temperature and during the subsequent mechanical characterization has been analyzed. The mechanical behavior of the as-received materials at the processing conditions has been characterized by hot torsion. Multilayer laminates have been tested at room temperature under impact Charpy tests, three-point bend tests, and shear tests on the interfaces. The relative toughness increase compared to the constituent materials was much higher for the ADH19 laminate based on the high-strength Al 7075 alloy than for the ALH19 laminate. This is attributed to the different fracture mechanism