Performance Auditing at Public Sector

The last decades have experienced a lot of developments and evolution in performance audit in different national audit institutions. Despite many achievements, some criticism has come too, the prime focus being on the objectives and indicators that debatably limit our understanding of reality. This book contributes to the literature of performance audit in a number of ways: first by defining the different relations of several stakeholders in the public sector with the SAI in the lens of Agency Theory. Additionally, the study provides an explanation for the responsive approach in PA, and its role and potential influence in improving performance audit practice, as well as the process of learning and improvement in the public sector in general. Furthermore, the theoretical framework expands the knowledge about the process of decision choice by auditors in PA, describing the different pathways and the four main elements, which are: performance perception, performance information, and judgement and decision choice.