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JMESSP13420247
JMESSP13420247
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
Abstract – Due to the nature of construction industry are facing poor financial performance.
industry, construction companies are facing poor Uncompleted private and public construction projects
financial performance. This is not only disruptive are the end-products of poor financial performance of
to the industry, but can also result into a nation’s construction companies [4]. This often leads to
economy threat. Financial benchmarking is a economic and social damages [2].
means of determining financial performance of
The economic and social damages resulting from
companies. This paper aims to establish financial
failing financial performance of construction
benchmark for the listed Saudi construction
companies are beyond quantifiable costs to the
companies on Saudi Stock Exchange Market.
companies’ stakeholders [4]. Therefore, it is important
Overall benchmarking score was developed for
to recognize failing financial performance at earliest
the companies based on the financial
stage, in order to reduce the damages. To curb the
performance indexes, which comprises of
economic and social damages resulting from poor
profitability, growth, financial stability and cash
financial performance of construction companies, a
flow. Therefore, the companies were ranked
periodic evaluation of their financial data is essential.
according to their benchmark scores. This enable
In addition, the evaluated financial data of companies
the study to determine the financial weakness and
in the same industry can be compared to each other,
strengths of the companies. This study will help
to determine their financial performance [5].
the companies with poor financial performance to
check their financial drawbacks and develop some Benchmarking is a means of comparing
improvement methods to achieve a better companies’ performance in the same industry [6].
financial performance. Reference [7] highlighted that benchmarking is a
means of improving company’s efficiency and
Keywords—Construction Industry, Financial effectiveness of its products and services, by
Performances, Benchmarking, Financial Data, comparing them to others in the same industry.
Saudi. Financial benchmarking enables construction
I. INTRODUCTION companies’ executives to determine their financial
performance by comparing with others in construction
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among Gulf industry. This allows the companies to determine their
Cooperative Council (GCC) with largest proven oil financial weaknesses and strengths [8]. According to
reserves in the world. These reserves made the [6], best practices were identified by comparing the
kingdom one of the largest producer and exporter of financial performance and enable the concerned
petroleum in the world. The kingdom earned 73% of companies improvise on their financial weakness. So,
its total exports from oil and gas, these generated it is important to benchmark the financial performance
63% of government’s revenues and 41% of the of the companies in the same industry.
kingdom’s gross domestic product [1]. The wealth
generated from oil and natural gas created some Benchmarking depend on measurements. The
world’s fastest growing economy in the kingdom. processes of benchmarking adopted in the current
study were: Decide what to measure; Collection of
Thereby, the kingdom is undergoing transformation data; Calculate key performance indicators (KPIs);
because of several on-going and completed Report the results; and Analyze the results. Decision
construction projects financed by the saved petroleum on what to measure was determined through rigorous
revenues [2]. These construction projects attract review of early study on financial performance;
contractors and construction companies from other Collection of data was done through questionnaire
countries to venture into Saudi construction industry. survey and downloading of financial statement of
Thereby, making the number of the Saudi’s construction companies from Saudi Stock Exchange
construction companies increasing at an encouraging Market (SSEM); Establishment of the KPIs was done
rate. based on the outcome of the survey; Reporting and
Construction industry indicates a nation’s economy analyzes of the results was done accordingly. In this
condition [3]. But, thousands of the companies in this study, financial data analyzes and financial key
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JMESSP13420247 1201
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
performance indicators were used to develop the sheets gives details of companies’ assets, liabilities,
financial benchmarking score of the companies. and equity at a specific time. It is usually prepared at
the end of each month and at the end of the fiscal
Financial data are the main sources of information
year [5].
for establishing financial analysis of industry. Financial
data of companies comprises of balance sheets,
income statements, and detailed reports. Balance
Research Methodology
Financial Data
Survey Analysis & Ranking of Collection
Key Performance Indicators
Financial Performance
Evaluation
Fig. 1. Research Methodology Flowchart
To carry out financial benchmarking and questionnaire, general information, contained
performance assessment successfully, financial KPIs questions about the construction organization; for
that review the companies must be put into example, name of the company, number of
consideration. These financial KPIs need standard employees, number of executed project in the last ten
measurement methods and relative weights to score years, and information about the individual completing
the performance [9]. This paper aims to benchmark the questionnaire. The second part comprised
financial performance for the listed Saudi construction questions about the raw financial KPIs. In this part of
companies on SSEM. To achieve the study’s the questionnaire, each organization were asked to
objective, the research procedures were broken down rate the indicators based on their professional
into two phases, as shown in Figure 1. judgment on a given five-points Likert-type scale
(where 1 = very low importance, 2 = low importance, 3
II.RAW FINANCIAL KEY PERFORMANCE
= medium importance, 4 = high importance, and 5 =
INDICATORS, QUESTIONNAIRE PROPOSAL AND
very high importance).
SURVEYS
A. Surveys
A set of 8 raw characteristics indicators were
initially obtained from rigorous literature review of It is rarely impossible to conduct a full population
previous studies that assessed the financial surveys, but the survey in this research was
performance of organizations. These financial KPIs conducted on the basis of statistical sampling as
formed the basis of the study’s questionnaire survey. suggested by Wang et al., [10]. The principle of
The questionnaire was divided into two major parts. statistical sampling which guarantee a representative
These are general information and degree of sample was employed for economy and speed. In this
importance of financial performance indicators in study, the questionnaire survey targeted the “Grade 1”
construction organizations. The first part of the Saudi construction companies, to acquire reliable and
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JMESSP13420247 1202
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
adequate information. The sample size that represent TABLE 1: FINANCIAL KPIS AND THEIR
the survey population was calculated using “(1)”. RANKING USING RELATIVE IMPORTANCE INDEX
𝑛′ 𝑝×𝑞 Standard RII
𝑛= 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛′ = (1) Financial KPIs Mean Ranking
[1 + (𝑛′ ⁄𝑁)] 𝑉2 Deviation (%)
Profitability 4.58 0.72 91.7 1
Where: n = the required sample size; 𝑛′ = the first Growth 4.25 0.79 85.0 2
estimate of sample size; N = the population size; P = Financial stability 4.08 0.72 81.7 3
the proportion of the characteristic being measured in
Cash flow 4.00 0.88 80.0 4
the target population, 𝑞 = 1 − 𝑝; and V = standard
Competitive price 3.42 0.58 68.3 5
error of sampling population.
Capital 3.21 0.93 64.2 6
For the purpose of determining maximum sample Investment in
size, Hany et al. [11], suggested that the values of p development of new 3.08 1.06 61.7 7
and q should be 0.5 and the standard error should be market
set to 10%, which represents the maximum standard Interest cover 2.54 1.06 50.8 8
error allowed.
Substituting the pre-defined parameters, the first
estimated sample size 𝑛′ = 25 and required sample III. FINANCIAL DATA COLLECTION
size n = 18.2 was obtained. Thereby, making the Financial data of the sixteen Saudi companies
minimum required response rate to be 27.2%. This listed on the construction section of SSEM were
infers that a minimum of 19 construction companies downloaded [12]. In the context of this study,
should participated in this study in order to get a companies’ code, as listed on SSEM, was used to
minimum required information. represent the companies. Some financial reports were
A total of 67 questionnaires were delivered to the published in Arabic language; these were translated to
companies, together with a cover letter amplifying the English language accordingly. Data regarding to the
purpose of the study and assuring them of anonymity. most ranked financial KPIs were extracted from the
A total of 24 questionnaires was completed and downloaded financial data and saved in Microsoft
returned, resulting in a 35.8% response rate, which is Excel Spreadsheet for computation process.
greater than the minimum required response rate of IVFINANCIAL DATA ANALYSIS
27.2%.
A Profitability Evaluation
B. Survey Analysis and Ranking of Assessment
Indicators The primary goal of business organizations is
profits. Insufficient profits make business liable to
The participated organizations provided numerical failure and would not enable the business to survive in
scoring, which expressing their opinions on the the long run [13]. Thus, the need to measure past and
degree of importance of each raw financial KPIs. Data current profits, and projecting future profits is
collected were analyzed using relative importance essential. Several formulas and indices measures the
index (RII), as stated in “(2)”. profitability index of organizations. The profitability
∑5𝑖=1 𝑊𝑖 𝑋𝑖 index (PI) of the companies was computed using “(3)”.
𝑅𝐼𝐼 = . (2) Profit before Zakat
𝐴×𝑛 PI = (3)
Total Revenues
Where 𝑊𝑖 = weight given to the 𝑖𝑡ℎ response: 𝑖 = 1,
In this study, “zakat” is an Arabic word used
2, 3, 4, 5; Xi = frequency of the 𝑖𝑡ℎ response; A =
instead of taxes, and is mainly used in the kingdom.
highest weight (in this study, its 5); and n = number of
Table 2 and Figure 2 shows the profitability index and
respondents.
sketches of the companies. The companies were
Table 1 shows the mean value, standard deviation, ranked according to their profitability index, company
ranking and RII of the financial KPIs. Standard with organization code 2360 received the first ranking
deviation of each KPIs was relatively small enough to with an index of 0.276. While company with code
conclude that the respondents agreed on their 1310 got the lowest ranking, this shows a poor
importance. profitability index of the company.
This study used the most ranked four financial
KPIs for the analysis and evaluation of the listed
Saudi construction companies on SSEM.
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JMESSP13420247 1203
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
1310
2240 0,300 1330
0,100
2360 2200
0,000
2130 2370
2040 2090
2110 4230
2160
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JMESSP13420247 1204
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
1310
2240 0,200 1330
0,100
1301 2320
0,000
-0,100
2360 2200
-0,200
-0,300
1320 -0,400 1302 Growth
2130 2370
2040 2090
2110 4230
2160
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JMESSP13420247 1205
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
1310
2240 1,000 1330
1301 0,500 2320
0,000
2360 2200
-0,500
2130 2370
2040 2090
2110 4230
2160
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JMESSP13420247 1206
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
1310
2240 3,500 1330
3,000
1301 2,500 2320
2,000
2360 1,500 2200
1,000
0,500
1320 0,000 1302
Cash flow
2130 2370
2040 2090
2110 4230
2160
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JMESSP13420247 1207
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
1310
2240 3,500 1330
3,000
2,500
1301 2320
2,000
1,500
1,000
2360 2200
0,500
0,000 Profitability
-0,500 Growth
1320 -1,000 1302 Financial Stability
Cash flow
overall score
2130 2370
2040 2090
2110 4230
2160
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JMESSP13420247 1208
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
highest score was in 2010 and thereafter, the score score was achieved in 2010 with 1.377 and decreased
started decreasing to -0.527 in 2013. Figure 10 shows to 0.485 in 2013. This indicate that the company was
the cash flow score for the company in the last four unable to finance its liabilities with the operational
years. The result shows that the highest cash flow cash flow.
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JMESSP13420247 1209
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies (JMESS)
ISSN: 2458-925X
Vol. 2 Issue 12, December - 2016
of Malaysian Contracting Firms,” J. of Constr. in Dev. [10] O, Wang, M. El_Gafy, and J. Zha, “Bi-level
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productivity of construction enterprises. Constr. Res.
[4] D. Strischek and M. Mclntyre, “Red Flags and
Congr. (2): pp. 970-979, 2010.
Warning Signs of Contractors Failure,” the RMA
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[5] S.J. Peterson, Construction Accounting and
construction companies in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,”
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Saddle River, New Jersey Columbus, Ohio, 2009.
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[6] T. Stapenhurst, The benchmarking book: A
[12] Tadawul, SAUDI STOCK EXCHANGE
how-to-guide to best practice for managers and
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[7] V.T. Luu, S. Kim, and T. Huynh, T. “Improving
[13] I, Yu, K, Kim, Y, Jung, and S, Chin,
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