Are Performance Audits Useful? A Comparison of EU Practices. Issue 3 (March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Torres, Lourdes; Yetano, Ana; Pina, Vicente
• Is Part Of: Administration & society. Volume 51:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 431
• Page End: 462
• Publication Date: 2019-03
• Subjects: performance audits -- public administration styles -- logic -- impact -- Supreme Audit Institutions -- Regional Audit Institutions; Public administration -- Periodicals; 351
• DOI: 10.1177/0095399716658500
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0095-3997

Abstract

Performance audits allow audit institutions to contribute to the improvement of the economy, efficiency, and/or effectiveness of public sector entities through the recommendations of their reports. To assess the impact of the performance audits carried out by EU Supreme and Regional Audit Institutions, this article analyzes whether these recommendations are implemented in practice or not. The results show that there are two main ways in which the recommendations included in the performance audit reports produce an impact: the Anglo-American way, based on auditee actions and follow-up processes, and the Germanic way, based on parliamentary action.