DESIGN OF AN AUDIT UNIVERSE: LET’S AUDIT CHALLENGING PROCESSES OF MODERN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Keywords:
Audit, Audit Universe, Public Administration, RiskAbstract
The continual transformation of public administration gives rise to new risks. What are the risks and how to mitigate them? The answer to these questions is the application of the concept of audit universe. An audit universe is a collection of selected areas of public administration that need to be regularly audited for potential risks, compliance with the law, and strategic goals. It is of importance to society as it promotes efficient management of public administration processes and supports transparency and responsibility in the management of public resources. The article aims to design a methodological framework for the implementation of an audit universe that will integrate selected data analytic approaches, comprehensively identify major risks, and define areas for subsequent auditing of public administration. To meet the aim, the methods of criteria-based selection of organizational units, key processes, identification, and assessment of risks are used together with text analytics. The results show an audit universe and give an overview of key areas of public administration for further auditing, which will be used as a basis for planning and efficient risk management. An audit universe will also help to determine the granularity of the audit, i.e. the extent and detail in which the selected processes should be audited. This is supplemented with audit diagnostics that present sets of risk subprocesses for the audit universe and further auditing. The advantage is direct facilitation of a systematic and efficient approach to auditing of public administration, support for the necessary transparency, and responsibility for the optimization of public resources.
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