Victoria Reneiloe Marule and Portia Pearl Siyanda Sifolo
Abstract
Detective internal controls usually foster compliance among small businesses and are the second line of defence to identify errors, theft, or omission that the preventive controls failed to block. They provide a holistic technical view that safeguards and protects the assets of small businesses. However, failure to isolate small businesses’ unique risks harms the detective internal controls as they are neglected. Use of qualitative method through semi-structured interviews among 12 small business entrepreneurs in Mpumalanga, South Africa. MAXQDA 2022 was used to analyse data. The results revealed that small businesses were reluctant to participate due to their concerns about the information being gathered. Moreover, small business entrepreneurs indicated a lack of technical and conceptual business management skills as prohibitors to implementing internal detective controls. Nevertheless, due to resource constraints and volatile employee dynamics, small business entrepreneurs must commit to competence.