Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have played an important role in economic development. The increasing number of SMEs have resulted in the business landscape to become more and more competitive. This has made SMEs to also undergo great challenges to be able to maintain their existence and expand their businesses. It is argued that the enterprise resource planning system (ERPs) can improve business performance. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to examine the impact of an ERPs usage on the financial and non-financial performance of the Saudi SMEs. An exploratory study has been used to identify the factors contributing to the effective and successful use of an ERP system. The findings indicate seven contingency factors. Based on the exploratory study results, three hypotheses have been developed and tested in a quantitative study. A survey is constructed and sent to 200 Saudi SMEs that adopted the ERP systems. About 120 valid responses have been received. For data analysis and hypothesis testing, a structural equation modelling (SEM) tool has been adopted. The results depict that management support, user satisfaction, and training significantly impact the ERPs usage. Another significant finding is that ERP systems enhance SMEs’ performance.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the internal audit function (IAF) (independence and competence) and the quality of internal control systems (ICSQ). It also aims to assess the moderating role of the maturity of enterprise resource planning (ERP) on these relationships. Using data from 98 Saudi Arabian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have implemented an ERP system, this paper uses a Structural Equation Model to examine the hypotheses. In particular, the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) is adopted for data analysis and hypothesis testing. The results reveal that both internal audit competence and independence are positively associated with ICSQ. Moreover, the maturity of ERP moderates the relationship between internal audit competence and ICSQ. These findings have significant implications with regard to the ICSQ, as the identification of the internal audit function's characteristics affects the internal control quality of SMEs. In addition, the findings have implications on those who are concerned with measuring ICSQ, such as company managers and regulatory bodies. This study uses the COSO framework to measure ICSQ. Contribution/ Originality: This study is one of very few studies to investigate the impact of the internal audit function (independence and competence) on ICSQ in SMEs, as well as assessing the moderating effect of ERP maturity on this relationship.