IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/euract/v10y2001i3p583-599.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Performance auditing in local government: an exploratory study of perceived efficiency of municipal value for money auditing in Finland and Norway

Author

Listed:
  • Åge Johnsen
  • Pentti Meklin
  • Lasse Oulasvirta
  • Jarmo Vakkuri

Abstract

Performance auditing, or value for money (VFM) auditing, has been a long-standing component of accountability in public administration. During the 1980s and 1990s performance auditing has allegedly been increasingly adopted in the new public management. While there has been much research on public management and performance auditing in central government, local government has been relatively neglected in the literature. Municipalities and counties in local government have an important role in public sector service production in most European countries, and especially in the Nordic countries. It is therefore surprising that performance auditing in this context has received so little scholarly attention. This study is aimed at filling some of this gap. The purpose of this comparative study is, therefore, to explore how performance auditing practices, including performance measurement, are used to assess and verify value for money in local government and to enhance the accountability of municipalities and counties. This study analyses how informants from both auditors and auditees in Finland and Norway perceived the efficiency of conducting performance audits in local government. Despite some problems related to the quality of the performance audit reports, the informants perceived performance audit to function as a useful, rational public management tool.

Suggested Citation

  • Åge Johnsen & Pentti Meklin & Lasse Oulasvirta & Jarmo Vakkuri, 2001. "Performance auditing in local government: an exploratory study of perceived efficiency of municipal value for money auditing in Finland and Norway," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 583-599.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:10:y:2001:i:3:p:583-599
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180126803
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09638180126803
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09638180126803?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R J Sørensen, 1997. "The Legitimacy of Norwegian Local Government: The Impact of Central Government Controls," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 15(1), pages 37-51, March.
    2. Pollitt, Christopher & Girre, Xavier & Lonsdale, Jeremy & Mul, Robert & Summa, Hilkka & Waerness, Marit, 1999. "Performance or Compliance?: Performance Audit and Public Management in Five Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296003.
    3. I. Lapsley & C. K. M. Pong, 2000. "Modernization versus problematization: value-for-money audit in public services," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 541-567.
    4. William G. Ouchi, 1979. "A Conceptual Framework for the Design of Organizational Control Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(9), pages 833-848, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kristin Reichborn-Kjennerud, 2015. "Resistance to Control—Norwegian Ministries’ and Agencies’ Reactions to Performance Audit," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 17-32, March.
    2. Danielle Morin, 2008. "Auditors general's universe revisited: An exploratory study of the influence they exert on public administration through their value for money audits," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 23(7), pages 697-720, July.
    3. Mu’azu Saidu Badara, 2012. "The Relationship between Risk Management and Internal Audit Effectiveness at Local Government Level," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 3(12), pages 389-396.
    4. Salem Amara, 2015. "Improving Performance Auditing Practice in the Libyan Public Sector," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 1(4), pages 311-324, April.
    5. Mu’azu Saidu Badara, 2013. "Impact of the Effective Internal Control System on the Internal Audit Effectiveness at Local Government Level," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 4(1), pages 16-23.
    6. Jane Broadbent & James Guthrie, 2008. "Public sector to public services: 20 years of “contextual” accounting research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(2), pages 129-169, February.
    7. David Carassus & Christophe Favoreu & Marcel Guenoun & Olivier Terrien, 2015. "Les évolutions en matière de pilotage par la performance publique locale au niveau européen : des logiques à la fois descendantes et ascendantes à harmoniser," Post-Print hal-02188115, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Danielle Morin, 2008. "Auditors general's universe revisited: An exploratory study of the influence they exert on public administration through their value for money audits," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 23(7), pages 697-720, July.
    2. Kristin Reichborn-Kjennerud, 2015. "Resistance to Control—Norwegian Ministries’ and Agencies’ Reactions to Performance Audit," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 17-32, March.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10775 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Markus Mayer & Markus Voeth, 2022. "Improving negotiation success in B2B sales organizations: is structured negotiation management a success factor?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 163-196, February.
    5. Carlos Martin-Rios, 2016. "Innovative management control systems in knowledge work: a middle manager perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 181-204, May.
    6. Andrea Francesconi & Enrico Guarini, 2017. "Performance-based funding e sistemi di allocazione delle risorse ai dipartimenti: prime evidenze nelle universit? italiane," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 113-134.
    7. Alexandra Rausch & Alexander Brauneis, 2015. "It’s about how the task is set: the inclusion–exclusion effect and accountability in preprocessing management information," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 23(2), pages 313-344, June.
    8. Stuart Kells, 2011. "The Seven Deadly Sins of Performance Auditing: Implications for Monitoring Public Audit Institutions," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 21(4), pages 383-396, December.
    9. Pascale Amans & Sylvie Rascol-Boutard, 2006. "Controlling Complex Organizations on the Basis of an Operational Performance Measure," Post-Print hal-01659071, HAL.
    10. Mei, Maggie Qiuzhu & Wang, Le & Yan, Jie, 2023. "Maintaining product quality consistency when offshoring to emerging markets: The role of subsidiary control," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    11. Gavin M Schwarz & Karin Sanders & Dave Bouckenooghe, 2020. "In the driving seat: Executive’s perceived control over environment," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(2), pages 317-342, May.
    12. Troisi, Roberta & Nese, Annamaria, 2012. "Workers’ motivation: the italian case of cooperative credit banks," MPRA Paper 38025, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Emil Inauen & Katja Rost & Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, 2010. "Back to the Future –A Monastic Perspective on Corporate Governance," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 21(1), pages 38-59.
    14. David Pastoriza & Miguel Ariño & Joan Ricart, 2008. "Ethical Managerial Behaviour as an Antecedent of Organizational Social Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 329-341, March.
    15. Domenica Lavorato & Palmira Piedepalumbo, 2023. "How Smart Technologies Affect the Decision-Making and Control System of Food and Beverage Companies—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-21, February.
    16. Popoola, Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson & Che-Ahmad, Ayoib & Samsudin, Rose Shamsiah, 2014. "Fraud and Forensic Accounting: Knowledge and Risk Assessment Task Performance in Malaysian Public Sector – Conceptual study," MPRA Paper 66680, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    17. Paul, Michael & Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten & Groth, Markus, 2015. "Tightening or loosening the “iron cage”? The impact of formal and informal display controls on service customers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 1062-1073.
    18. Laurent Mériade & Benoit Nautré & Corinne Rochette & Damien Talbot, 2017. "Les effets de la Proximité sur l'exécution des politiques publiques : L'exemple d'un Centre de Lutte contre le Cancer (CLCC)," Post-Print hal-02327098, HAL.
    19. Julien Batac & Olivier de La Villarmois, 2003. "Les Interactions Controle / Apprentissage Organisationnel : Proposition D'Une Grille D'Analyse," Post-Print halshs-00582732, HAL.
    20. Sylvie Rascol-Boutard & Pascale Amans, 2006. "La compatibilité de deux modes d'adaptation à la complexité : par un indicateur de performance et par les compétences," Post-Print hal-01662404, HAL.
    21. Sun-Moon Jung & Jae Yong Shin, 2022. "Social Performance Incentives in Mission-Driven Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7631-7657, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:10:y:2001:i:3:p:583-599. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/REAR20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.