In addition to looking at the federal governments summary financial statements, the Auditor General was given a broader mandate to examine how well the government managed its affairs and to call attention to anything the Auditor General considers to be of significance and of a nature that should be brought to the attention of the House of Commons. _qA Pierre, J., Peters, B.G. Funnell, W., (2003), Enduring fundamentals: constitutional accountability and auditors-general in the reluctant state, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol. Development of performance audit in public sector - ResearchGate Another gap in the literature concerns public sector auditing in international organisations (e.g. Jeppesen, K.K., Carrington, T., Catass, B., Johnsen, ., Reichborn, Kjennerud, K., Vakkuri, J., (2017), The strategic options of supreme audit institutions: the case of four Nordic countries, Financial Accountability and Management, Vol. 22 No. (2015), The audit report as an instrument for accountability in local governments: a proposal for Spanish municipalities, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Vol. Harvesting Public Audit Knowledge: Implications for Theory and Practice, Reichborn-Kjennerud and Irene Vabo (2017), Factors Influencing the Whistleblowing Behaviour: A Perspective from the Theory of Planned Behaviour, Norms, legitimacy and institutional independence: the active role of the European Court of Auditors in setting international standards, Searching for strategy: Value for Money (VFM) audit choice in the new public management era, Efficiency, Economy and Effectiveness but What about Ethics? Hence, a public sector audit focused on whether accounting practices were true and fair and followed the rules and regulations. This paper aims to reveal how the field has developed and identify avenues for future research. 1, pp. NPM introduced accrual accounting and associated financial statements into the public sector and made public sector auditing more like corporate audits, focusing on standards and formal annual financial statements. Our analysis reveals that audits conducted by government supreme audit institutions seek to understand if NPM has influenced audit reporting (Pollitt and Summa, 1997) and, in more recent years, whether reporting can deliver public value (Jeppesen et al., 2017; Cordery and Hay, 2019). The perception of public sector auditors on performance audit in 115-136. 7 No. 2, pp. 99-117. Performance audit of Australian Public Private Partnerships: legitimizing government policies or providing independent oversight? 89-100. Troupin, S., Put, V., Weets, K., Bouckaert, G., (2010), Public audit systems: from trends to choices, presented at 6th Transatlantic Dialogue Conference, 24-26 June, Siena, available at: https://soc.kuleuven.be/io/pubpdf/IO03060027_Troupin_put_2010_TAD_Public%20Audit%20Systems.pdf. This document contains the objective, scope, and criteria of the audit, as well as key milestone dates. Funnell, W., (1997), The curse of Sisyphus: public sector audit independence in an age of economic rationalism, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. Individual audits are approved by the Performance Audit Practice Oversight Committee through the annual performance audit planning process. 135-144. Guthrie, J., Olson, O., Humphrey, C., (1999), Debating developments in new public financial management: the limits of global theorising and some new ways forward, Financial Accountability and Management, Vol. Measuring the impact of valueformoney audits: a model for surveying audited managers, Canadian Public Administration/Administration Publique du Canada, Auditors generals universe revisited: an exploratory study of the influence they exert on public administration through their value for money audits, Auditors generals impact on administrations: a pan-Canadian study (2001-2011). 2, pp. 20 No. @,Pq\}B/WXJ5*fn'PEOJs]{T~ TSF T\ @*.h6F>t-V 3WN (2010), The public value of the National Audit Office, Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. Colquhoun, P., (2013), Political and organisational legitimacy of public sector auditing in New Zealand local government, Accounting History, Vol. The Auditor General is answerable to parliamentary committees, including the Public Accounts Committee, on his or her actions in carrying out the responsibilities that have been conferred by the Auditor General Act, the Financial Administration Act, and other laws. 378-400. 3, pp. 31 No. According to NPG, public sector service delivery can be provided via multiple agencies (Almqvist et al., 2013; Wiesel and Modell, 2014; Powell et al., 2010; Fotaki, 2011). 60 No. 1, pp. 2, pp. Finally, performance audit studies since the 2000s have examined corruption and ethics. This reduced the overall sample to 108 papers. 49-66. Higher-level appointed staff and elected officials review the results of audits to oversee the proper, legal, and cost-effective operation of public services and programs. The principles of economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and environment and sustainable development are defined as follows: The Auditor General Act gives the OAG considerable discretion to determine what areas of government to examine when conducting audits. We searched the string in two databases, SCOPUS and ISI Web of Science (WoS) and limited our search to titles, abstracts and keywords, as these are the parts of the articles that typically contain keywords (Dal Mas et al., 2019; Natalicchio et al., 2017; Paoloni et al., 2020). Mulgan, R., (2001), Auditorsgeneral: cuckoos in the managerialist nest?, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. We now turn to our second research question: What are the main gaps in the existing public sector auditing literature? The organisations should aim to demonstrate that public monies allocated to them are being used effectively, that specific targets are being met, and that appropriate decisions are being made in respect of long term planning. 38-55. We use laws and leading practices as criteria to evaluate City departments, and make recommendations when we find opportunities for improvement. 368-385. Klijn, E.H., (2012), New public management and governance: a comparison, in Levi-Faur, D. PERFORMANCE AUDITING - A COMPLEX CONCEPT Authors: Anda Gheorghiu National University of Political Studies and Public Administration Abstract and Figures The paper analyses the complex concept. PDF The Impact of Performance Audit - Core 16 No. An Essay on the Division of Expert Labour, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 39-62. De Martinis, M., Clark, C., (2003), The accountability and independence of the auditorsgeneral of Australia: a comparison of their enabling legislation, Australian Accounting Review, Vol. Exhibit3 lists the CPA Canada standards that apply to the OAGs performance audits. The auditors role here is usually to report on the credibility, usefulness and accuracy of the reported performance. 19 No. 12 No. 912-933. 30-49. Van Helden, G.J., (2005), Researching public sector transformation: the role of management accounting, Financial Accountability and Management, Vol. Chowdhury, R.R., Innes, J. and Kouhy, R. (2005), The public sector audit expectations gap in Bangladesh, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 17 No. Thorne, J., Holmes, S.A., McGowan, A.S., Strand, C.A. Its growth parallels the evolu- tion of politics and public administration from one-dimensional focus on control of. Risk-based planning. 35 No. recommendations) that will be provided by the audit to address gaps, problems, or risks; the information that will be provided by the audit to improve transparency or to enhance the understanding of a given situation; and. Or What Government Auditors Might Not Need to Know. 4, pp. Often the performance information will be provided as part of the public sector organisations integrated report, in which case the auditors conclusion will be included within the integrated report. 1, pp. ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC-SECTOR AUDITING 13 The three parties 13 Subject matter, criteria and subject matter information 14 Types of engagement 15 Confidence and assurance in public-sector auditing 16 5. After removing duplicate items (84) and documents classified as books or book chapters (17), 328 peer-reviewed journal articles remained. 75 No. However, the team can do much at every stage in the audit to increase the likelihood that these outcomes will occur, and teams are expected to focus on achieving them. 209-228. 11 0 obj Next, we weighed each articles content against a set of exclusion criteria (Ardito et al., 2015), factors that might make an article inappropriate for review (see Table 1). 36 No. 899-923. ), Public Sector Reform and Performance Management in Developed Economies: Outcomes-Based Approaches in Practice, Routledge, London. Exploring divergent causal mechanisms through three Honduran cases, Pick and Roll: Expanded roles for a state auditor, Auditor or Adviser? (Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden; Department of Economic analyses and Accounting, Nord Universitetet, Bodo. In other words, we applied inclusion criteria considering factors that might make articles suitable for review (see Table 2). For example for an ambulance service it would be quite easy to measure the average time taken for an ambulance to respond to an emergency as this is quantifiable, but more difficult to measure the patients satisfaction with the service provided as this is based on the patients opinion. What is the contribution to the performance management?, Management Control, Vol. Determinants in elections for presidents of supreme audit institutions, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 1508-1532. Performance auditing. Comptroller and auditor general, National Audit Office. Performance auditing seeks to answer how effective budget funding to spend on public sector entities. 8 No. 32 No. 6-23. 23 No. Rainsbury, E.A., Malthus, S. and Capper, P.A. 23 No. An analysis of broader changes in the public sector has started to emerge (Chiang and Northcott, 2012; Pearson, 2014). 6 No. FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC-SECTOR AUDITING 9 Mandate9 Public-sector auditing and its objectives 10 Types of public-sector audit 11 4. Morin, D., (2001), The influence of value for money audit on public administrations: looking beyond appearances, Financial Accountability and Management, Vol. Global Warning: Debating International Developments in New Public Financial Management, Debating developments in new public financial management: the limits of global theorising and some new ways forward, A quarter of a century of performance auditing in the Australian federal public sector: a malleable masque, Compromise and avoidance: the response to new legislation, Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Research Imagination, The value of public sector audit: literature and history, Navigating through the spatial and institutional contradictions of public audit oversight, Transparencygenerated trust: the problematic theorisation of public audit, Audit committee roles and responsibilities in two English public sector settings, Audit committees in scottish local authorities 1998-2005, Communities working collaboratively for a change, Resolving Conflict: Strategies for Local Government, International City/County Management Association, Audit and accountability in the privatization process: the role of the National Audit Office, Regulation inside government: where new public management meets the audit explosion, A scientific approach to politics? WoS articles were only available between these dates and, for consistency, we kept the same parameters for Scopus. Developing audit objective, scope, and criteria. McCrae, M. and Vada, H. (1997), Performance audit scope and the independence of the Australian commonwealth auditorgeneral, Financial Accountability & Management, Vol. Hood, C., James, O., Jones, G., Scott, C., Travers, T., (1998), Regulation inside government: where new public management meets the audit explosion, Public Money and Management, Vol. Shore, C., Wright, S., (2015), Audit culture revisited: rankings, ratings and the reassembling of society, Current Anthropology, Vol. (1988), The System of Professions. 29 No. A few articles (6) combine multiple theories, sometimes from the same group (e.g. Obtaining input from advisers. 543-559. 2, pp. Desmedt, E., Morin, D., Pattyn, V. and Brans, M. (2017), Impact of performance audit on the administration: a Belgian study (2005-2010), Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. Audit type the type of audit referred to in the article: comprehensive (where a paper discusses more than one audit type). 18 No. Discussion of the ethical dimension of corporate governance (Fleming and McNamee, 2005; Appel and Plant, 2015; Barrett, 2019) and the internal audit function (Coram et al., 2008) reveals their roles in contributing to risk management (Coetzee, 2016) as they decrease corruption (Gustavson and Sundstrm, 2018), reduce conflicting management cultures (Christopher and Sarens, 2018) and limit whistleblowing by auditors (Rustiarini and Sunarsih, 2017). Auditors and institutions will need research findings to reap the full benefit of future technological developments and tackle challenges along the way. Based on the strategic audit plans and previous audit work, the OAG takes a strategic and risk-based approach to selecting performance audit topics, some of which will span several entities, to be conducted over the next few years. 1, pp. 2, pp. Technology can strengthen public sector auditors investigative powers and increase transparency in their work (Antipova, 2019). annual audits of the financial statements of most Crown corporations and many federal organizations, which are reported to the Crown corporations board of directors. Performance audits may also focus on the principle of environment and sustainable development. The audits contribute to maintaining healthy public institutions and a well-managed, accountable government for Canadians. 39-42. endobj The new world of auditing in international organisations, Financial Accountability and Management, Vol. 74-86. Internal Audit will secure resources necessary to accomplish its goals and objectives. 9 No. The asterisk (*) indicates that different suffixes were permitted. 19 No. This amendment gave the Auditor General the powers, at his discretion, to inquire into the use of federal grants, contributions, or loans, even when they are transferred outside government. 35 No. 64-75. The Auditor Generals Reports and the Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development usually consist of several audit reportsone for each performance audit. 601-619. Ward, D.D., Elder, R.J., Kattelus, S.C., (1994), Further evidence on the determinants of municipal audit fees, The Accounting Review, Vol. Assessing and reporting the performance of national audit offices a threecountry comparison, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. What are the main gaps in the existing public sector auditing literature? English (2003) argued that competition, a key feature of NPM, is not always an appropriate basis for reforming audit systems. This approach to the public sector incorporates external government entities, such as state-owned enterprises and public and private partnerships, which can also be audited. 20 No. 3, pp. Institutional logic has the potential to be integrated with other theories to cover the micro-dynamics involved in (re-)constructing auditing tools as they are implemented in everyday practices (Modell, 2009). The Government Accountability Office is an independent U.S. agency that monitors and audits government spending and operations. 806-825. Publication of the results allows the public to see if certain programs are worth their tax dollars, and they can use the information to make educated voting decisions. What is performance auditing? Performance auditing Chapter 1 What is Hepworth, N.P., (1995), The role of performance audit, Public Money and Management, Vol. 10, pp. 7, pp. Performance audits answer questions such as: 1) Are . There is no specific format or wording that is prescribed by international regulations for reporting on public sector performance information, though in some jurisdictions the national regulators may issue country-specific requirements. 3, pp. Abstract Performance auditing (PA) has undergone relevant evolutions in recent decades, attracting considerable interest from academics and practitioners alike, in terms of its emergence, evolution. 32 No. CSQC1the Canadian Standards on Quality Control dealing with a firms responsibilities for its system of quality control for audits, CSAE3001Canadian standard on assurance engagements that applies to direct assurance engagements, AuG-50Conducting a performance audit in the public sector in accordance with CSAE 3001 (supplementary Guideline for CSAE 3001). Staff members will possess an appropriate level of expertise for any work contemplated. This overview highlights the key concepts and principles of performance audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (the OAG). In addition to being invited to appear before the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, the OAG is also invited to hearings with other parliamentary standing committees of the Senate and House of Commons that are charged with oversight of areas that the OAG has audited. 3, pp. and Prowle, M.J. (2014), Developing performance audit in Spanish local government: an empirical study of a way forward, Public Money & Management, Vol. 2, pp. 3, pp. Improving the quality of political and democratic processes? (2020), Journal quality list, 67th ed., available at: https://harzing.com/download/jql67_subject.pdf (accessed 05 February 2020). 30 No. In a similar vein, Funnell et al. (2020), An analysis of the audit expectation gap in the Maltese central government, Public Money & Management, pp. 4, pp. 34 No. and Rich, K.T. endobj In particular, we address the following research questions: 1) Are performance audits perceived to be about holding ministries and agencies accountable or are they viewed to be primarily about improving the activities by the officials in the audited entities? Performance audits are also implemented in the business sector and follow many of the same stated goals and procedures. However, many questions remain about how technological change will shape public sector auditing in the future. 7 No. Auditors working under an NPG logic use value for money (VFM) audits to assess how economic, effective and efficient is the management of the audited organisations (Morin, 2001). 64-76. A National Audit Office VFM Study, Audit Recommendation Follow-Up Systems: A Survey of the States, Performing Auditors?