Hidden Costs and the Performance of Saudi Corporations

Abstract

This research deals with the hidden costs in Saudi Corporations in terms of their presence and their impact on the performance. The first part of the research is a review of the literature related to hidden costs in general and the second part is an analysis of 100 questioners which were received from a sample of companies listed in the Tadawul stock market in Saudi Arabia. The Multiple regression method was used to analyze the questionnaires received from the companies. A set of results were reached: the hidden costs at all are existing in Saudi Corporations with a high average of both of Absence index (3.98), productivity index (3.81) and medium average for each of work turnover rate (3.66), poor quality (3.54) and work accidents index (3.52). A set of recommendations were suggested such as: applying the principle of penalties to reduce the phenomenon of absenteeism at work, giving material and moral rewards to disciplined workers who are not absent, improving working environment conditions, hiring qualified and trained workers from the beginning, respecting employees, being transparent and just in dealing with them, giving continuous training courses to them, , reducing overtime work hours and timing them to reduce injuries on the job, focusing on improving quality to increase the profits, considering hidden costs as one of the constituent elements of the comprehensive income statement, forming an allowance of estimated hidden costs doubtful in the financial statement position, standardizing the hidden costs and including them in the budgets of business organizations.