NORDCThe influence of performance audit on public administration and politics - A comparative study of the Nordic Supreme Audit Institutions

The purpose of this study is to document the strategic alternatives (by organizational design and professional practice) the Nordic Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have chosen, and to study the impact of these strategic decisions and the influence of th e audits on public administration and policy making. The study seeks to contribute to the literature on public sector auditing, public administration, democratic accountability and evaluation of public policy. The method chosen is a comparative case stu dy of the organizational design, perception of performance audit, and the public debate after publication of the reports in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and the new democracy of Estonia. The Nordic welfare states (the Nordi c model) are in many respects successful, for instance in balancing economic growth, social equality and inclusion, innovation and flexibility. However, the relatively high-performing governmental systems are subject to perceived and real problems. One cl aim is for example that many former and ongoing reforms in the public sector have led to a disintegrated governance system. Policy tools that are used for informing policy makers, politicians and the society at large include public sector audit and eval uation. How the audits are perceived and influence actors and policy making is important in modern democratic welfare states. However, at present little is known about the operation and in particular the impact of Supreme Audit Institutions in the Nordic countries and elsewhere. This project therefore studies 1) how the Supreme Audit Institutions in four Nordic countries and Estonia design their organisations, 2) how the performance audits that the Supreme Audit Institutions conduct for the legislators im pact on different users' perception of the audit and the usage of the audit, and 3) what happens in the wake of the publication of the reports.