Author(s)

Zhou Yun ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Guangdong Hengcheng Certified Public Accountants Firm, Huizhou, Guangdong, 516200, China

Corresponding Author

Zhou Yun

ABSTRACT

This study explores how internal audit can work together with management accounting to strengthen procurement cost control. Through an embedded case study at Company A, a medium-sized injection molding machine manufacturer, we find that traditional compliance audits, which lack quantitative support from management accounting, often fail to detect deeper procurement risks that erode cost efficiency. By integrating standard costing, activity-based costing (ABC), and budget control into the COSO internal control framework, auditors can effectively identify issues such as related-party transactions, unreasonable pricing, and weak contract enforcement. The process forms a closed loop: risk identification, quantitative measurement, problem remediation, and continuous tracking. The proposed "COSO-Management Accounting" framework provides practitioners in SMEs with a practical approach to conduct cross-functional audits and offers policymakers useful insights for strengthening internal controls and management accounting in smaller firms.

KEYWORDS

Internal Audit; Procurement Cost Control; COSO Framework; Management Accounting Synergy

CITE THIS PAPER

Zhou Yun. From Financial Compliance to Value Creation: Internal Audit Empowering Procurement Cost Control in Manufacturing. Accounting and Corporate Management (2026). Vol. 8, No. 1, 92-98. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/acccm.2026.080112.

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