The Reality of Applying Management Accounting Practices in Non-profit Organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Charities / Charitable Organizations

Abstract

The non-profit organizations are playing an important role in promoting life and social stability. This paper aims to explore the application of management accounting practices in non-profit organizations and charitable societies. Given the critical importance in the continuation of the work of charities, this research will contribute to knowing the extent to what performance evaluation and measurement practices are applied to identify their performance and take the necessary decisions in order to develop and raise the performance of associations to reach the desired results on several levels. Moreover, there are no studies that explored the reality of using management accounting practices in charitable societies.

To achieve the goal of this paper, it depends on the descriptive quantitative methodology using the survey strategy through questionnaires that were distributed to the employees of charitable societies (board members, heads, accountants). The results of the questionnaire indicates that charities use management accounting practices, and the most widely used is the balanced scorecard. Accordingly, recommendations were made to the academic side and the non-profit sector, which would enhance the application of management accounting practices and their role in evaluating performance and achieving sustainability.

Therefore, this study enriches the literature on the change in the application of modern management accounting methods and the extent of its reflection on the achievement of organizations’ strategies.