Value for money (VFM) auditing will soon have been part of the control environment in European and North American public administrations for thirty years, yet, despite its many interesting features, it has received very little attention from researchers. Chief among the VFM audit'sstill unexplored features, would doubtless be the value of its performance as an instrument to control and improve the management of public affairs. In order to partially fill this research gap, I am proposing 14 indicators to measure the effectiveness of VFM audits. But I don't stop there, for pointing out the successes or failures of VFM audits would finally be futile unless one also pointed to their causes. So, turning my attention to causes, I also propose 11 factors which can be used to explain the successes of Auditors General in carrying out VFM audits of public organizations as well as their inevitable failures.

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Purpose – The influence that Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) exert on management of administrations through performance audits has been examined very little and questioned even less. This study of the impact of Auditors General (AG) on management of six Canadian administrations for the 2001-2011 period aims to highlight the auditors ' successes and the limits imposed on them in their role of agents of change for administrations. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was sent out to a total of 125 respondents identified by the authorities of the targeted organizations. Eighty-seven usable questionnaires were completed (70% response rate). Findings – AG appear to influence the organizational life of Canadian entities to a moderate extent. The figures suggest that auditors do exert an influence on the organizations audited, but their influence attempts fail fairly often. Indirect powers to reward and punish conferred on AG by their institutional status are conditioned not only by the will of the central and political authorities of the entities audited but also by the will and capacity of parliamentarians to assume real control over the executive branch. One explanation for this mitigated influence is that the “obligatory reverence” that SAIs inspire in administrations masks the real value that auditees perceive in auditors ' work. Research limitations/implications – Given the ten-year period that the study covered, it had to deal with the mortality of respondents and the loss of organizational memory. Practical implications – The study gives insights about the auditees ' recognition regarding the auditors ' added value to administrations through their performance audits. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need for further empirical research on AG ' s impact on administrations through their performance audits.

One of the key overseers of public administration in Canada is the Office of the Auditor General. Value for money (VFM) audit emerged in the auditing environment of the Canadian public sector in 1977, when the Auditor General of Canada was granted all the necessary powers to put in place a VFM audit function. The mandate of the Auditor General was thus broadened to encompass auditing of the economy, efficiency, and to a lesser extent, the effectiveness of management of public organizations. The Auditor General could now question not only the accounting practices, but also the management practices of government administrators. James J. Macdonnell was then Auditor General of Canada. In 1976, he had warned the Trudeau government that it was about to lose control of public finances. As the public finance watchdog, Mr Macdonnell was a strong advocate of VFM audit. In 1980, the creation of the Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation, a not for profit organization dedicated to research and training, was an important step in the evolution of VFM audit in Canada (Leclerc et al., 1996, p. 245).

The practice of value‐for‐money legislative audits was conceived to improve the management of public programs by making it more economical, more effective, and more efficient. To what extent have auditors general achieved this objective in the past twenty‐five years since the inception of the value‐for‐money audit (VFMA)? The literature on VFMA has been silent on its actual impact on public administrations. This article examines the impact VFMAS have had on the management of organizations in the government of Quebec based on a new survey model of inquiry. Of the variables measured were the value VFMAS bring to the organizations audited; the relevance of the recommendations formulated by the auditors; the deterrent of potential audits on public‐sector managers; the changes that occurred in the audited organization's management practices and in its relations with its stakeholders; the ways in which the auditors' report has been useful to the auditees; the concrete actions taken following VFMAS; and, finally, the organizational and personal consequences of the audits. Sommaire: La vérification législative de l'optimisation des ressources (VOR) est une pratique qui a été conçue pour améliorer la gestion des programmes publics en la rendant plus économique, plus efficace et plus efficiente. Dans quelle mesure les Vérificateurs généraux ont‐ils atteint cet objectif au cours des vingt‐cinq années qui ont suivi l'avènement de cette pratique? La recherche sur la VOR a passé sous silence l'impact réel de cette pratique sur les administrations publiques. Le présent article examine l'impact des VOR sur le managerisme des organismes du gouvernement du Québec d'après un nouveau modèle d'enquête. Les variables mesurées étaient les suivantes:la valeur que les VOR apportent aux organismes vérifiés; la pertinence des recommandations formulées par les vérificateurs; l'effet dissuasif de vérifications potentielles sur les gestionnaires du secteur public; les changements intervenus dans les pratiques de gestion de l'organisme vérifié et dans ses relations avec ses parties prenantes; la manière dont le rapport des vérificateurs a été utile aux entités vérifiécs; les mesures concrètes prises à la suite des VOK; et enfin, Ics conséquences organisationnelles et personnelles des vérifications.

PurposeAs practised by Auditors General in governmental organizations, the value for money (VFM) audit is ultimately destined to improve the management of public affairs. This study aims to examine to what extent Auditor General of Quebec has been achieving this objective through the VFM audits conducted in the Canadian province of Quebec from 1995 to 2002. For the purposes of this research, a model was designed that measured the impact these VFM audits may have had on the management of the organizations audited and that exposed the determinants of this impact.Design/methodology/approachA survey was sent out exclusively to auditees who are the representatives of the organizations audited: top and middle managers and department professionals (specialists in their area: health, education, etc.) having interacted with the auditors during VFM audits. A five‐category Likert‐type scale was selected for the survey. A total of 188 questionnaires were sent out and, of the questionnaires filled out by auditees, a total of 99 were considered valid, that is 53 percent response rate. Quantitative analysis was performed using SPSS software. For each of the elements measuring the impact of VFM audits on the management of organizations audited, principal components factor analysis (with VARIMAX rotation when there was more than one factor) was performed. These analyses sought to understand the correlation structure of the variables for each of the elements.FindingsThe changes made after the auditors' visits have not been radical and there have been no revolutions in the organizations audited, but the influence of auditors is perceptible for all ten of the elements measured. The will of those at the base of the organization and the intervention of parliamentarians turn out to have a decisive influence on the impact that auditors will or will not have on the management of organizations audited.Research limitations/implicationsThe point of view reported is exclusively that of auditees. There can be no claim for total objectivity on their part. Moreover, it was practically impossible to corroborate their statements with other sources. Some respondents might have tended to minimize the influence that auditors might have had on them. Others could have shaped facts to their advantage.Originality/valueMeasurement of the impact of VFM audits on the management of government organizations, from auditees' point of view, has not been much examined by scholars. This research constitutes a major contribution to advance knowledge about the impact of VFM audits in a Canadian context.

This study shows how the tensions between transparency and secrecy are likely to engender ‘institutional hypocrisy’ in the accountability process taking place during Supreme Audit Institutions’ performance audits. The examination of relations between the French Cour des comptes, Administration and Parliament has revealed gaps between Administration and Parliamentarians’ discourse and action, secrets and things left unsaid. This impression of Administration and Parliamentarians’ full participation in this democratic process may give to citizens a false sense of security leading them to believe that accounts are indeed rendered, which is not actually the case. Rather, the appearances of functional democracy have been preserved.

Purpose-This study of the impact of Belgian Court of Audit on the federal Administration for the 2005 to 2010 period aims to highlight the auditors' influence on the management of governmental organizations through the performance audits they have been conducting since 1998. A set of ten variables allows us to measure the three types of uses of performance auditors' work by auditees: instrumental, conceptual and strategic uses. Design/methodology/approach-A survey was sent out to a total of 148 respondents identified by the authorities of the targeted organizations. 47 usable questionnaires were completed (32% response rate). Findings-The Court of Audit's impact on the audited entities did not provoke radical changes in the auditees' organizational life but the intervention of the auditors was nevertheless noticeable. The nature of the impact was rather conceptual than strategic or instrumental. And the negative consequences on auditees anticipated in the literature were not observed. Research limitations/implications-Given the five-year period covered by the study which was made in 2014 (four years after 2010), it had to deal with the mortality of respondents and the loss of organizational memory. Practical implications-The study gives more accurate insights about the influence that Supreme Audit Institutions actually exert on audited Administrations through their performance audits. Originality/value-Since Supreme Audit Institutions have been mandated to evaluate government's economy, efficiency and effectiveness for almost 40 years in the western democracies, it is mandatory that their actual ability to influence Administrations be documented more abundantly and independently by academic researchers.