Internal Control Practices and Financial Performance of Private Health Institutions Within the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

The contributions of internal control practices in any organisational setup can never be overemphasised. These practices notably monitoring, risk audit, control activities, information and communication and control environment have largely been found to promote financial performance. This research purposely analysed how these practices actually affect the financial performance of private health institutions within the Tamale metropolis of Ghana. This research was underpinned by the agency theory, quantitative approach, explanatory design and gathered primary data from 197 sampled health workers through structured questionnaires. A valid data set of 192 was processed using IBM SPSS version 26 statistical software. the linear regression technique was employed for the analysis of which the study found all the internal control practices to individually ensure better financial performance. It was concluded that internal control practices are key predictors of financial performance. The study, therefore, recommended that management of the private health institutions should pay immense attention to developing internal management mechanisms to boost their financial efficiency and overall performance while staying competitive.