Performance Auditing and the Narrating of a New Auditee Identity

Abstract

This paper analyzes how performance auditing affects the auditee in different and sometimes unexpected ways. On the basis of a detailed case study of the Danish Ministry of Transport's encounter with performance auditing we argue that performance audit is a practice that generates multiple effects and that some of these effects can be characterized as a reconfiguration of the organizational identity of the auditee. In this process, accountabilities are reformulated and reallocated which sometimes lead to ‘blame games’ and strong feelings of discomfort. We draw on actor‐network theory and a narrative approach to study how performance audit reports produce narratives that picture new possible identities that the auditee in question must take into consideration. We argue that auditee identities are partly shaped by relations to ‘significant others’, such as the National Audit Office, the politicians and the press who all give accounts of who the Ministry is and ought to be. Furthermore, we argue that accounting and management information systems are enrolled as important ‘nonhuman’ actors that enable the suggested identity positions.

Transforming social sector auditing – they audited more, but scrutinized less

“…One is how the sharp audit affects the auditees. Justesen and Skærbæk () underline the blame games and feelings of discomfort among auditees, and this effect would be interesting to further investigate in connection to different audit practices and auditor roles. Another is whether there is a difference between transformations of audit in the social sector and other sectors.…”

Auditee Strategies: An Investigation of Auditees’ Reactions to the Norwegian State Audit Institution’s Performance Audits

“…Other authors have problematized the independent role of auditors as being an obstacle to impact because stakeholder involvement is associated with greater utilization (Vanlandingham 2011). Justesen and Skaerbek (2010) examined how accountability mechanisms contributed to the auditors' impact and suggested that these are forceful mechanisms in making organizations implement changes. Still they questioned whether the changes necessarily represented improvements.…”

Audit as Leviathan: Constructing Quality Registers in Swedish Health Care

“…In the accounting literature, ANT and the notion of translation has been used to emphasize how accounting devices emerge and transform (e.g., Preston, ; Lowe, ; Vikkelsø, ; and Rocher, ) and how performance auditing shapes identities (Skærbæk and Thorbjørnsen, ; and Justesen and Skærbæk, ). However, the issue of power and the construction of macro‐actors has been less developed (Czarniawska and Hernés, ).…”