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Performance Auditing in a Social and Political Context

Performance Auditing in a Social and Political Context

This project has been sponsored by the Danish Social Science Research Council (Statens Samfundsvidenskabelige Forskningsråd).
The purpose of the project is to analyse performance auditing in the Danish public sector. Performance auditing comprises two practices. The first practice involves the auditor reviews of management systems, arrangements, objectives and procedures. These reviews end up in auditor reports, which subsequently are handed over to the public accounts committee of the Parliament. The second part of the project is related to publication of annual reports. The two performance audit practices are closely related.
1. Performance audits and the reviews of management systems, procedures etc.
This part of the project relates to the "construction processes related to the reports produced by The National Audit Office of Denmark (NAOD). More specifically, it focuses on reports that operate within the field of performance auditing. Theoretically, the project is inscribed in a broader research field taking a sociological approach to auditing and management accounting.
Analytically, we distinguish between two processes. First, there is a process of "preparing" the reports where the contents are negotiated, constructed and reconstructed during a period of time involving various actors. Secondly, we analyse the "consumption" processes of the completed and published reports. The latter focus involves tracing the effects at various societal levels. It is important to note that the consumption processes simultaneously are construction processes, because the reception of the reports by different audiences implies various readings and therefore (re)constructions of the reports.
The empirical starting point involves a number of reports published by the NAOD. To analyse the processes of construction and consumption, a range of relevant actors such as the NAOD, the Ministry of Finance, audited organisations, politicians, the press etc. are included in the project. The project comprises different kinds of empirical material such as documents, interviews and field notes.
2. Performance audits and annual reports
This part of the project deals with the activities of government agencies relating to the publication of annual reports. The institutional construction of this practice has been initiated by the Ministry of Finance and NAOD. This project theorises the annual reports from both a classical economic perspective and a social constructivist perspective.
The project is based on a variety of empirical sources such as qualitative interviews, manuals from the Ministry of Finance, White Papers, critiques of agency practices by NAOD, published reports etc.
Some articles are under publication!
Researchers related to the project
The project is conducted by researchers from the Department of Operations Management at CBS. The researchers will provide both empirical and theoretical perspectives on the field of performance auditing.
The following persons are related to the project:
Project leader: Peter Skærbæk, Associate Professor
John K. Christiansen, Professor
Jens Aaris Thisted, Associate Professor
Poul Erik Christiansen, Associate Professor
Lise Justesen, PhD Student
Sita Kotnis, Research Assistant.

Sidst opdateret af Webmaster 02.04.2009