Drawing on 20 years of experience as Comptroller and Auditor General, and head of the United Kingdom National Audit Office, Public Sector Auditing: Is it Value for Money? is Sir John Bourn’s own account of the role and influence value for money auditing has in holding governments to account and in helping public bodies improve the ways in which they deliver services. Key features include: In-depth case studies from UK, US, Canada, China, India and Australia; Detailed analysis of complex areas of public expenditure such as health, education, privatisation, regulation, defence and IT; Examples of how auditing can promote positive outcomes rather than negative post mortems. This book is relevant for people working in both the public and private sectors, and should be essential reading for the staff of public sector audit institutions around the world, as well as commercial accountancy firms and students of accountancy, politics, economics and public management.

This book provides a concise overview of the current context and types of public sector audit and the varied structures within which public sector audit is practised across the world. It summarises the objectives of public sector audit as well as explores the role of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions in providing guidance to these. Drawing on public and private sector audit as well as the views of academics and practitioners on public sector audit, it provides a unique research-based guide to the current issues and future challenges in the field.

The effectiveness of internal audit activities is important for the sustainability of change in the public sector. In this sense, the tools and techniques used and the level of competencies of public sector auditors are decisive. This book deals with the effects of current technological developments in the public sector on auditing and risk management activities. Therefore, it is a resource for public internal auditors to create a digital audit strategy based on artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain-based applications. Institutionalisation of their structures is important for public sector internal auditors. For this, basic requirements, future expectations, and best practices are explained. The digital business model is presented to produce value-added audit findings and outputs that guide public internal auditors and all digital-era stakeholders. This book is a pioneering work based on continuous auditing/continuous monitoring approaches using various AI and blockchain-based tools and techniques. There is nothing more valuable to the success of a public internal auditor than a detailed understanding of the business. The important lesson in developing business knowledge, especially in the new audit universe emerging with digital transformation, is that all auditors must understand that they never finish learning about business processes, risks, and control points in the digital era. They must constantly push themselves to be motivated and learn about the business operations they audit to implement new audit approaches powered by AI. In addition to obtaining up-to-date business information from process owners and stakeholders, public auditors responsible for conducting an AI-based continuous audit programme should also look inside their departments for a different perspective on business information that impacts continuous audit programme phase details and has the potential to add value. It should be noted that the additional source of information begins with your individual audit experience, digital skills, and qualifications.

Providing a comprehensive account which brings a wide range of countries to the forefront in terms of both comparability and accountability, this study shines a light on the differences in accounting systems between states, and fills a gap in the literature by combining these aspects of public sector accounting and auditing within a single book.

Environment and sustainable development challenges are a matter of global concern. Trillions of dollars of mostly public money are invested every year in domestic and international policies and programs to address these challenges. The effectiveness of these policies and programs is critical to environmental sustainability. Performance audits that examine the effectiveness of governmental policies and programs heavily influence their implementation. Despite this, performance auditing in the environment field has received very little academic attention. This book takes a closer look at performance auditing of public sector environmental policies and programs. It examines trends in global environmental performance auditing; and how it is currently practiced drawing on a global survey and case studies from Canada, India and Australia. In doing so, it identifies issues and challenges faced by Supreme Audit Institutions in undertaking these performance audits. This book will be of interest to students, scholars and practitioners of sustainable development, environmental auditing and public sector auditing as well as to donor organisations engaged in these areas.

PPP/PFI contracts often share a number of features: they run over a very long period of time; they are conceived without a complete understanding of how requirements may change and despite the rhetoric they tend to create a context where dispute and litigation rather than partnership are the norm. In this environment, effective auditing is essential to ensure that projects are delivering what the end-user requires. Audits are both a public sector right, and a matter of good management sense. Performance Auditing of Public Sector Property Contracts is a practical guide to performance auditing for public sector property managers with a series of guidelines for auditors of public sector property contracts. The book concentrates on Facilities Management contracts. Lori Keating explains the basis for the process; how to retain balance, independence and rigour and how to audit intangible performance measures and other tricky areas. The book follows an audit process from commencement to conclusion, and contains a discussion of factors that contribute to the success of any audit. It is essential reading for public sector auditors, PPP project managers and contractors.

The book provides an overview of the governmental accounting status quo in Europe by analysing the public sector accounting, budgeting and auditing systems in fourteen European countries. IT sheds light on the challenges faced by European countries as they move towards adoption of the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS).

Budget institutions and financial governance -- Political economy of budget oversight and external auditing -- Institutional arrangements for external auditing -- The board model and the case of Argentina -- The court model and the case of Brazil -- The monocratic model and the case of Chile -- Government auditing in transition -- Conclusions : auditing, accountability and anticorruption.

This text explains the constitutional purpose and significance of audit, and aspects of accountability in the British system of government. It suggests that audit delivers managerial accountability. It explains the basic concepts of accounting and audit, and sets audit in its historical context.

Accountability as it concerns the Commonwealth Government; the obligation of governments to be financially accountable; ways in which governments answer for the use of resources taken from the public to implement social and economic policies; defining the public sector; the significance of government; the cycle of accountability in government; the structure of Australian government.