INTERNAL AUDIT AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN PORT HARCOURT METROPOLIS.

Abstract

The study examined internal audit and financial performance of pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt Metropolis. This study adopted correlational survey research design. The population of the study is eight (8) pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt Metropolis was randomly selected as the accessible population with one hundred (100) staff as the respondents. The sample size is 80. The instrumentation of the study was adopted in this study were questionnaire. The data generated was analyzed in research hypotheses using the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient with the aid of statistical package for the social sciences. The findings of the study were that; There is a positive and a significant relationship between the application of compliance audit and profitability in pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt Metropolis. On the other side, there is a positive and a significant relationship between personnel audit and profitability in pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt Metropolis. In view of the findings, the following recommendations are made among others: There should be regular audit reports, as well as regular review reports on functionality of internal controls so as to address the current business challenge. Existing Departments should be strengthened by according them the necessary professional independence and employing adequate number of experienced and qualified staff to enable the department extends coverage of the audit to all significant activities of these enterprises.