Control Environment Activities and NGO Efficiency in International and Local Non-Governmental Organizations in Mezam Division, Northwest Region-Cameroon.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/jacc.3954Keywords:
Control environment, Efficiency, International non-governmental organisations, Local non-government organisations.Abstract
Purpose: This study examined the effect of the control environment activities on the efficiency of international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Mezam Division, Northwest Region-Cameroon. Specifically, it assessed the influence of the control environment activities on the efficiency of all NGOs, international NGOs (INGOs), and local NGOs (LNGOs), while controlling for budget participation, organisational culture, regulatory environment, and external audit.
Methodology: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was adopted. Data were collected from 226 NGOs, comprising 34 INGOs and 192 LNGOs. NGO efficiency was estimated using the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, while Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression was used to examine the determinants of efficiency. Separate regression models were estimated for all NGOs, INGOs, and LNGOs.
Findings: The findings revealed that the control environment had a positive and statistically significant effect on NGO efficiency across all three models. For all NGOs, the effect was B = 0.212, β = 0.352, p < 0.001; for INGOs, B = 0.287, β = 0.403, p < 0.001; and for LNGOs, B = 0.207, β = 0.354, p < 0.001. Budget participation was the strongest predictor for all NGOs (β = 0.433) and LNGOs (β = 0.431), whereas the control environment was the strongest predictor for INGOs (β = 0.403). Organisational culture also had a positive and significant effect across all models, while regulatory environment and external audit were insignificant. The models exhibited strong explanatory power, with adjusted R² values of 0.893, 0.913, and 0.862 for all NGOs, INGOs, and LNGOs, respectively. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening ethical leadership, governance, participatory budgeting, and organisational culture to enhance NGO efficiency and sustainability in Cameroon.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study contributes to theory by demonstrating that control environments influence NGO efficiency and vary between INGOs and LNGOs. Practically, stronger ethical leadership, governance, accountability, participatory budgeting, and organisational culture can improve efficiency. Policy-wise, Cameroon should strengthen internal governance and participatory management systems to enhance NGO accountability, sustainability, and resource utilization.
Downloads
References
Adeyemi, F. K., & Olarewaju, O. M. (2019). Internal control system and financial accountability: An investigation of Nigerian south-western public sector. Acta Universitatis Danubius. Oeconomica, 15(Special Issue 1).
Airout, R. M. (2022). Control environment effectiveness: The influence of control systems on the external audit procedures quality. Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, 26(2), 1–19.
Babbie, E. R. (2013). The practice of social research (13th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Banker, R. D., Charnes, A., & Cooper, W. W. (1984). Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis. Management Science, 30(9), 1078–1092. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.30.9.1078.
Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement (5th ed.). Wiley.
Charnes, A., Cooper, W. W., & Rhodes, E. (1978). Measuring the efficiency of decision-making units. European Journal of Operational Research, 2(6), 429–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(78)90138-8.
Coelli, T. J., Rao, D. S. P., O’Donnell, C. J., & Battese, G. E. (2005). An introduction to efficiency and productivity analysis (2nd ed.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/b136381.
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. (2004). Enterprise risk management—Integrated framework. COSO.
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. (2013). Internal control—Integrated framework: Executive summary. Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
Cooper, W. W., Seiford, L. M., & Tone, K. (2007). Data envelopment analysis: A comprehensive text with models, applications, references and DEA-Solver software (2nd ed.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-45283-8
Debreu, G. (1951). The coefficient of resource utilization. Econometrica, 19(3), 273–292. https://doi.org/10.2307/1906814.
Drucker, P. F. (1974). Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices. Harper & Row.
Ebrahim, A., & Rangan, V. K. (2014). What impact? A framework for measuring the scale and scope of social performance. California Management Review, 56(3), 118–141. https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2014.56.3.118.
Emrouznejad, A., & Yang, G. L. (2018). A survey and analysis of the first 40 years of scholarly literature in Data Envelopment Analysis (1978–2016). Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 61, 4–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2017.01.008.
Farrell, M. J. (1957). The measurement of productive efficiency. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (General), 120(3), 253–290. https://doi.org/10.2307/2343100.
Ghasemi, M., Ngegah Marie, A. M., & Rokni, L. (2022). The necessity of governance through internal control and accountability in NGOs: A case of Buea Sub-division, Cameroon. Sustainability, 14(18), Article 11264. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811264.
Gujarati, D. N., & Porter, D. C. (2009). Basic econometrics (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Hofisi, C. (2024). Authorisation cycle as a composite of control measures for the effectiveness of an internal control system of a primary education programme in Uganda. TWIST, 19(3), 736–742.
Ilyas, M., et al. (2020). Internal control practices and financial performance of selected non-profit organizations. Journal of Accounting and Finance, 10(2), 45–58.
Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(76)90026-X.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). The balanced scorecard: Translating strategy into action. Harvard Business School Press.
Kong, E. (2010). Innovation processes in social enterprises: An IC perspective. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 11(2), 158–178. https://doi.org/10.1108/14691931011039660.
Koopmans, T. C. (1951). An analysis of production as an efficient combination of activities. In T. C. Koopmans (Ed.), Activity analysis of production and allocation (pp. 33–97). John Wiley & Sons.
Kwakye, E. A. (2017). Internal control activities as a tool for financial management in the public sector: A case study of Ghana Post Company Limited [Unpublished master's thesis/dissertation]. Department of Economics, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Lagat, C. K., Okelo, C. A., & Terer, E. (2016). Effect of internal control systems on financial management in Baringo County Government, Kenya. Journal of Economics, Finance and Accounting, 3(1), 2148–2197.
Legendre, A.-M. (1805). Nouvelles méthodes pour la détermination des orbites des comètes. F. Didot.
Moeller, R. R. (2016). Brink's modern internal auditing: A common body of knowledge (8th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119242017.
Ndonwi, A., et al. (2025). Evaluating non-governmental organizational efficiency and operational dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa. African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 16(1), 112–128.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2021). Development co-operation report 2021: Shaping a just digital transformation. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/ce08832f-en.
Research Guru. (2024). Assessing the internal control systems of non-governmental organizations in Cameroon: The case of ERUDEF and LUKMEF. Research Guru.
Sarrico, C. S., & Dyson, R. G. (2004). Restricting virtual weights in Data Envelopment Analysis. European Journal of Operational Research, 159(1), 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00460-4.
United Nations. (1945). Charter of the United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter
Verschuere, B., & Suykens, B. (2020). The nonprofit sector and public governance: Challenges and opportunities for performance and accountability. Public Management Review, 22(9), 1337–1358. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1668473.
Wooldridge, J. M. (2013). Introductory econometrics: A modern approach (5th ed.). South-Western Cengage Learning.
Wooldridge, J. M. (2020). Introductory econometrics: A modern approach (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Worthington, A. C. (2004). Frontier efficiency measurement in health care: A review of empirical techniques and selected applications. Medical Care Research and Review, 61(2), 135–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077558704263796.
Yamane, T. (1967). Statistics: An introductory analysis (2nd ed.). Harper & Row.
Yuchtman, E., & Seashore, S. E. (1967). A system resource approach to organizational effectiveness. American Sociological Review, 32(6), 891–903. https://doi.org/10.2307/2092843.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Kedze Jude Ndze, Tambi Daniel Mbu, Noumigue Guy Roland Kenmegni
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
