In the past, there have been issues regarding how internal auditors want to audit the company and profession in relation to information technology (IT) governance. 5G governance is considered an issue among accountants in Malaysia. With the establishment of Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) to enhance the development of 5G infrastructure in Malaysia, Maxis had properly made initiatives on proper 5G governance with Digital Nasional Bhd with the collaboration of Digi, Celcom, YTL Communications, U-Mobile, and Telekom Malaysia (The Star, November 2022). This raises concern for Malaysian companies to adapt to the IT revolution.

Companies may adapt to 5G by changing their business model by updating the current software and bringing new hardware equipment into the company in benefiting from the usage of 5G. This allows companies to have a faster response time in the overall business process as well as generate higher-quality information. However, there is a constraint where the company fails to utilize this growing technology because they do not have enough time to create proper IT planning support (Arup, 2015).

Due to that, companies will face problems in managing their IT governance after the plan has been implemented. This will raise a problem for internal auditors in auditing the effectiveness of IT. Therefore, this study would like to explore the challenges faced by internal auditors in performing their roles in corporate governance.