A Quarter of a Century of Performance Auditing in the Australian Federal Public Sector: A Malleable Masque

Abstract

Utilizing Porter’s (1981) theoretical framework for historical narrative analysis, this article examines the history of performance auditing in the Australian federal public sector. The analysis considers four crucial events in the period 1973‐98 the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration (1976), the Australian National Audit Office efficiency audit developments (1979), the Joint Committee of Public Accounts Inquiry (1989), and the struggles over the passage of the Audit Act 1997. The analysis supports the proposition that performance auditing is a malleable social construct rather than a definitive performance review technology. The construction of its technological basis has been contested, with several concepts being included or excluded by various groups. These have both reflected and influenced agendas and activities at individual, organizational, institutional, sociopolitical and socioeconomic levels in the Australian public sector. Performance auditing is therefore revealed as a masque that ultimately may defy any universal technical definition.

Value for Money Auditing in New Zealand: Competing for Control in the Public Sector

“…However, Guthrie and Parker (1997) argue that although individual Auditors-General (and their staff) do have a tremendous influence on the development and direction of performance audit (VFM) technologies, that to just focus on personalities is to ignore the importance of the institutional. Guthrie and Parker (1997, p. 37) suggest that performance auditing is best represented as 'a dramatic play in which the sponsors, actors and audience continually create and review the execution of the drama'.…”

“…One of the ways that this emphasis has been expressed is in the practice of value for money (VFM) auditing. VFM is not a unitary concept but a social construct, or as Guthrie and Parker, (1997) describe it, a malleable masque. Parker (1986) defined VFM audit as 'an examination designed to determine whether the organization in question is performing economically, efficiently and effectively in its use of resources, operations, procedures and pursuit of objectives ' (p. 6).…”

“…However, the empirical literature indicates that the use of VFM or performance audit has been strengthened by the public sector reform rather than eliminated by it (Guthrie and Parker, 1997;Leeuw, 1996;Barzelay, 1997). Therefore, is the use of VFM auditing a characteristic of NPM reform or a throwback to an earlier model of public administration?…”

Näkökulmia tilintarkastukseen ja arviointiin

“…Tärkeistä tehtävistä huolimatta vaikuttavuustarkastuksia tehdään kansainvälisesti ja kansallisesti yllättävän vähän verrattuna tilintarkastuksien ja laillisuustarkastuksien määrään (ks. Funnell 1998;Jacobs 1998;Radcliff 1998;Guthrie & Parker 1999;Pollitt 2003;Lonsdale 2008;Skaerbak 2009;Grönlund, Svärdsten & Öhman 2011). Vaikuttavuustarkastuksien vähäinen lukumäärä vaikuttaa sekä julkisen sektorin läpinäkyvyyteen että vaikuttavuuden kehittämiskykyyn.…”

The Role of Audit Bureau in Eradicating Financial Corruption in Libya

“…They expected a greater accountability from public managers for the collection, spending and management of public funds. Thus, the performance audit function has emerged with this trend as a by-product of public sector reform which previously concentrated on output of public administration function (Guthrie andParker 1999, Funnell 2001). Auditors have a duty to fight corruption.…”