Author(s): Filfilan, A.
This paper aims to examine the factors that influence the quality of internal audits in public administration in the Saudi socio-cultural context. The internal organization of audit bodies, the competence of auditors, process evaluation and the exogenous impact factors of an audit mission in the public administration are used to identify which of them affected the quality of internal audit in public Saudi administration. Data was collected from a questionnaire to gather information about 150 officials of different categories from some state audit bodies. First, factor analysis was conducted on several items to extract the underlying dimensions. Then, a bivariate analysis was performed to identify and analyse which factors influence the quality of internal audits in Saudi Arabia. The main results showed that the Saudi public internal audit bodies have an appropriate internal organization, make a good evaluation of the audit process and that the internal auditors are competent and independent. The results also showed a significant and positive relationship between these factors and the quality of the internal audit of the Saudi public administration.