The research study is concerned with the subject of management auditing with particular reference to its prospects and practice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research has among its objectives the appraisal of business organizations understanding of management auditing as well as the determination of the factors that contribute to a positive management audit result. Other objectives of the research study are the determination of the extent of the practice of management auditing in the Kingdom as well as the determination of the constraints that are facing such business organizations. Another objective of the research is to determine the means by which management auditing is being conducted by business organizations. A number of hypotheses have been assumed by the researcher for the purpose of this research. The researcher assumed that business organizations do not have properly documented procedures and policies that govern the conduct of the organization. The researcher also assumed that business organizations face difficulties in conducting management auditing using their own staff and that they
rely on external auditors for this function, the study also assumes that certain sectors of the economy are more involved in the practice of management auditing than others. Another assumption is that the
management audit report does not reach the Board or the Chief Executive of the organization for study, consideration and follow-up on compliance.
Chapter one of the research introduces and discuses the subject of the study. The objectives and hypotheses of the research are stated as
vvelf as the scope and limitations.
Chapter two covers the literature review and here the researcher discuses what has been written by other writers on the subject of
management auditing. Sources of the literature were mainly from academic publications. In chapter three, the research methodology is
discussed. Mere, the sources of data were mentioned as well as the means by which this data was obtained.
Chapter four contains a detailed report on the results of the research while chapter five contains a summary of the results,
conclusion reached and the recommendations. One of the most important results of the study was that only 20%
of business organizations surveyed are practicing management auditing despite the fact that 100% of the business organizations are
fully aware of the benefits of management auditing. The research study has also revealed the constraints that are facing business
organizations in the conduct of management auditing and these include lack of qualified and experienced staff as well as the absence of management auditing manuals. The results have also shown that factors such as training and development, promotions and performance evaluation contribute strongly to the attainment of
positive management auditing results.