The impact of project risk audits on construction project success

Abstract

Risk audit is often poorly implemented in construction projects because of the absence of constant auditing of risks by construction project managers. Construction companies are experiencing large financial deficits because of managers failing to audit and monitor project risks. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the utilization of risk audit correlates with project success in construction projects. An electronic survey instrument was used to collect data from a sample of 50 construction project managers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas in the United States. Spearman's rho correlational analysis and simple logistic regressions were used to examine the relationship between risk audit and project success. The results of this study indicated that there is a positive and significant association between risk audit and project success in terms of schedule performance, cost performance, customer satisfaction, and business success. One of the recommendations presented in this study was to expand the study to developing countries to see whether the findings from the study remain the same. The study concluded that construction organizations should regularly consider the importance and usage of risk audit techniques to improve the success rate of a project.

Keywords

• construction project management
• project success
• auditing
• project risk audits
• project auditing