Measuring Supreme Audit Institutions' Outcomes: Current Literature and Future Insights

Supreme audit institutions (SAIs) oversee the use of public resources and ensure accountability and, as such, they are very important for public sector reform. The author reviews the recent academic literature on how to measure SAIs’ results. Prior research was found to focus on performance auditing, rather than financial auditing. The authors rarely used quantitative indicators, but rather descriptive indicators or even anecdotes. Ways forward for researchers and SAIs are recommended. IMPACT: This paper makes recommendations on how to measure the outcomes of SAI audits. The author also has important advice on how SAIs might improve the results of their audits: most importantly setting up follow-up procedures to monitor the effects of their audit recommendations. The paper highlights proposals (for example using a Likert scale of SAI’s audit activity, rate of SAI’s recommendations implemented), that public auditors can use to get a comprehensive picture of outcome measures to improve accountability.