ADMINISTRATIVE AUDIT PRACTICES AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The fulcrum of this study was to investigate the relationship between administrative audit practices and operational efficiency of commercial banks in Rivers State. The study identified compliance audit, performance audit and internal control audit as the indicants of the predictor variable, while service quality measured the criterion variable. The research provided answered three research questions and tested three hypotheses in order to establish the hypotheses formulation that there is no significant relationship between administrative audit practices and operational efficiency. The population of the study consisted of employees from twelve commercial banks operating within Port Harcourt and surrounding areas in Rivers State. Based on estimates obtained from branch HR reports, the total populations were approximately 1,200 employees across key departments including finance, operations, audit, and risk management. A sample size of 300 respondents was determined using the Taro Yamane formula with a 5% margin of error. Stratified random sampling was employed to ensure equal representation from the different departments. Data were generated from the respondents by the use of a well-structured questionnaire. Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient was used to test hypotheses with the aid of statistical packages for social science (SPSS) version 25.0. The p-values were calculated to determine the significance of the hypothesized relationship. Analytical outcomes revealed statistically positive and significant relationships between the dimensions of our predictor variable- administrative audit practices and the measure of the criterion variable-operational efficiency. Based on the findings, the study concluded that administrative audit practices have a positive, significant relationship with operational efficiency of Commercial banks in Rivers State. The study further recommended that management of commercial banks should normalize regular performance audit as it is seen to have a significant influence on their operational efficiency.