Chauvidul, Narisa

Formality and Informality in Internal Control Systems: a comparative study of control in different social and cultural environments in a global bank

(2002)

This thesis examined the relationship between formal systems and informal norms in internal control systems in a global bank. The thesis argues that the global policies and standardised manuals and procedures of multinational firms cannot be internalised and interpreted in the same way as anticipated by the management in every branch.

This assumption confirms the importance of the need for this study to increase an understanding of the issues and concerns in the management of internal control systems among different organisations in different cultural and social environments. I have reviewed a broad range of literature and found that little research in information systems security had previously focused on the internal control systems. As such, this research presents a new area in information systems security study.

This research aimed to provide a qualitative approach to increase an understanding of the relationship between formal and informal systems. The main objective was to analyse in depth the interaction between these two systems. I placed more focus on the study of people who played a significant role in the control systems. In pursuing this aim, I conducted an interpretive case study of a global bank in two branches.

The findings from this research suggest that there are problems in implementing internal control systems globally across the bank. The internal control systems should be examined with respect to both formal and informal analysis. The considerations should be focused more at the informal level where pragmatic and semantic concerns should be addressed. The thesis concludes that qualitative approach is an appropriate way to conduct research in cross-cultural studies in information systems security, and that semiotics theory is an appropriate approach in this area of study.

Supervisor: Professor James Backhouse, PhD

Narisa Chauvidul is currently employed as a senior financial analyst for Red Bull Marketing UK and as advisor to the chairman in accounting and finance of Siam Winery Limited in the UK.