Influencing a Firm's External Environment on Internal Control in Commercial Firms in Hanoi

Internal control plays an important role in reducing risk and thereby helping businesses ensure the reliability of their financial statements and compliance with laws and government regulations (Rönkkö et al., 2018; Spira & Page, 2003) [20, 21]. The State’s documents have focused on the establishment of the supervisory board in joint-stock firms. Decree No. 5/2019/ND-CP of the Vietnam Government stipulates internal audit work in state agencies, public non-business units, and firms. This study was conducted to determine the firm's external environmental factors and their influence on internal control in commercial companies in Hanoi, thereby proposing governance implications for the business leaders of these companies to improve internal control. The author uses mixed quantitative and qualitative research methods, of which quantitative research is the main one. Qualitative research is used to adjust the scale. Quantitative research is used to analyze, measure, and test the model. Research results have determined that firms' external environmental factors affect internal control in commercial enterprises in Hanoi.