ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AUDITS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Keywords:
public administration;, audits conducted;, audit findings;, Supreme audit office,, Visegrád Four (V4) countriesAbstract
The feedback supreme audit institutions (SAI) provide from their audits of public funds and property owned by the national and local governments is critical to the audited governments and public authorities, while also important information for both the professional and general public. The article seeks to assess the performance of the SAIs in the Visegrád Four (V4) countries by evaluating hypotheses that assess the effectiveness of the audits they conduct. Data for the analysis came from annual reports of the institutions and interviews conducted with their staff. The evaluation covers sixteen years (2005-2020) and the five hypotheses established in this article were assessed using the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. In general, a conclusion could be drawn from the analysis that the volume of new audit findings was not influenced by the number of audits from previous years or the number of recommendations made therein. On the other hand, the relationship between the number of audits conducted and the number of criminal complaints filed was seen as statistically significant. The public sector works slightly differently in all countries, but the SAI needs to be able to identify and point out the most significant systemic issues concerning the various areas of the state economy.
References
AHONEN, P., & KOLJONEN, J. (2020). The contents of the National Audit Office of Finland performance audits, 2001–2016: An interpretive study with computational content analysis. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, 32(1), 49-66. doi: 10.1108/JPBAFM-11-2018-0138.
ANTIPOVA, T. (2018). Governmental Auditing Systems in Indonesia and Russia. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 724, 159-166. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-74980-8_15.
BALDACCHINO, P.J., PULE, D., TABONE, N., & AGIUS, J. (2016). Recent Annual Report Weaknesses by a Supreme Audit Institution: An Analysis. Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis, 97, 133-156. doi: 10.1108/S1569-375920160000097010.
BONOLLO, E. (2019). Measuring supreme audit institutions’ outcomes: current literature and future insights. Public Money and Management, 39(7), 468-477. doi: 10.1080/09540962.2019.1583887.
BRINGSELIUS, L. (2018). Efficiency, economy, and effectiveness—but what about ethics? Supreme audit institutions at a critical juncture. Public Money and Management, 38(2), 105-110. doi: 10.1080/09540962.2018.1407137.
CORDERY, C.J., & HAY, D. (2019). Supreme audit institutions and public value: Demonstrating relevance. Financial Accountability and Management, 35(2), 128-142. doi: 10.1111/faam.12185.
DONATELLA, P. (2021). Further evidence on the relationship between audit industry specialization and public sector audit quality. Financial accountability & management, 1. doi: 10.1111/faam.12278.
GONZÁLEZ-DÍAZ, B., GARCÍA-FERNÁNDEZ, R., & LÓPEZ-DÍAZ, A. (2013). Communication as a Transparency and Accountability Strategy in Supreme Audit Institutions. Administration and Society, 45(5), 583-609. doi: 10.1177/0095399712438376.
HALÁSKOVÁ, M., & HALÁSKOVÁ, R. (2017). Public expenditures in areas of public sector: Analysis and evaluation in EU countries. Scientific Papers of the University of Pardubice, Series D: Faculty of Economics and Administration, 24(39), 39-50.
IACOVINO, N.M., BARSANTI, S., & CINQUINI, L. (2017). Public Organizations between Old Public Administration, New Public Management and Public Governance: the Case of the Tuscany Region. Public Organization Review, 17 (1), 61-82. doi: 10.1007/s11115-015-0327-x.
JEPPESEN, K.K., CARRINGTON, T., CATASÚS, B., JOHNSEN, Å., REICHBORN-KJENNERUD, K., & VAKKURI, J. (2017). The Strategic Options of Supreme Audit Institutions: The Case of Four Nordic Countries. Financial Accountability and Management, 33(2), 146-170. doi: 10.1111/faam.12118.
JOHNSEN, Å. (2019). Public sector audit in contemporary society: A short review and introduction. Financial Accountability and Management, 35(2), 121-127. doi: 10.1111/faam.12191.
KALINOWSKA-WOJCIK, A. (2017). Procedures to Hold Criminally Responsible the President of the Supreme Audit Office. Przeglad Sejmowy, 3, 7-20.
KLIEROVA, M., & KÚTIK, J. (2017). One Stop Government – Strategy of Public Services for Citizens and Businesses in Slovakia. Administratie si Management Public, 28, 66-80.
LANGELLA, C., ANESSI-PESSINA, E., & CANTU, E. (2021). What are the required qualities of auditors in the public sector? Public money & management, February 2021. doi: 10.1080/09540962.2021.1883857.
MAZUR, J. (2016). Contribution of the Supreme Audit Office of Poland to Legislation and Experiences of Some Other SAIs. Public Finance Quarterly-Hungary, 61(3), 343-359.
MURAT, L. (2019). Primacy of the Supreme Audit Office. Przeglad sejmowy, 3, 61-79. doi: 10.31268/PS.2019.39.
MURATBEKOVA, Z, AINABEK, K., & DAVLETBAYEVA, N. (2017). Public sector audit as a provider of high-quality information on activity of the governments. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, 8(5), 1579-1584. doi: 10.14505/jarle.v8.5(27).23.
NEMEC, J., ORVISKA, M., & LAWSON, C. (2016). The role of accountability arrangements in social innovations: Evidence from the UK and Slovakia. NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, 9 (1), 73-96. doi: 10.1515/nispa-2016-0004.
PECI, A., & PULGAR, O.C.R. (2019). Autonomous bureaucrats in independent bureaucracies? Loyalty perceptions within supreme audit institutions. Public Management Review, 21(1), 47-68. doi: 10.1080/14719037.2018.1438503.
PIERRE, J., & DE FINE LICHT, J. (2019). How do supreme audit institutions manage their autonomy and impact? A comparative analysis. Journal of European Public Policy, 26(2), 1350-1763. doi: 10.1080/13501763.2017.1408669.
PORRAS-GÓMEZ, A.-M. (2020). The control pyramid: A model of integrated public financial control. Financial Accountability and Management, 36(1), 73-89. doi: 10.1111/faam.12221.
RAUDLA, R., TARO, K., AGU, C., & DOUGLAS, J.W. (2016). The Impact of Performance Audit on Public Sector Organizations: The Case of Estonia. Public Organization Review, 16(2), 217-233. doi: 10.1007/s11115-015-0308-0.
REDMAYNE, N.B, BRADBURY, M.E, & CAHAN, S.F. (2010). The effect of political visibility on audit effort and audit pricing. Accounting and Finance. 50 (4), 921-939. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-629X.2010.00350.x.
REICHBORN-KJENNERUD, K, CARRINGTON, T., JEPPESEN, K.K., & TARO, K. (2018). A new organisation of public administration: From internal to external control. Comparative Social Research, 33, 225-243. doi: 10.1108/S0195-631020180000033015.
REICHBORN-KJENNERUD, K., & JOHNSEN, Å. (2018). Performance Audits and Supreme Audit Institutions’ Impact on Public Administration: The Case of the Office of the Auditor General in Norway. Administration and Society, 50(10), 1422-1446. doi: 10.1177/0095399715623315.
SLOBODYANIK, Y., & CHYZHEVSKA, L. (2019). The contribution of supreme audit institutions to good governance and sustainable development: The case of Ukraine. Ekonomista , January (4), 472-486.
SLOBODYANIK, Y., KONDRIUK, L., & HAIBURA, Y. (2019). The Strategy Of Institutional Reform Of The Supreme Audit Institution: The Case Of Ukraine. Independent journal of management & production, 10(7), 872-896. doi: 10.14807/ijmp.v10i7.916.
SUMIYANA, S., HENDRIAN, H., JAYASINGHE, K., & WIJETHILAKA, C. (2021). Public sector performance auditing in a political hegemony: A case study of Indonesia. Financial accountability & management, Jun 2021. doi: 10.1111/faam.12296, ISSN: 0267-4424, eISSN: 1468-0408.
SUZART, J.A.D. (2012). Supreme Audit Institutions: a study of countries' level of fiscal transparency. Contabilidade Gestao E Governanca, 15(3), 107-118.
TORRES, L., YETANO, A., & PINA, V. (2019). Are Performance Audits Useful? A Comparison of EU Practices. Administration and Society, 51(3), 431-462. doi: 10.1177/0095399716658500.
TRIANTAFILLOU, P. (2015). Doing things with numbers: The Danish national audit office and the governing of university teaching. Policy and Society, 34(1), 13-24. doi: 10.1016/j.polsoc.2015.03.002.
TRIANTAFILLOU, P. (2020). Playing a zero-sum game? The pursuit of independence and relevance in performance auditing. Public Administration, 98(1), 109-123. doi: 10.1111/padm.12377.
