Volume 37, Issue 2 p. 142-162
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Auditor and auditee engagement with public sector performance audit: An institutional logics perspective

Lee D. Parker

Corresponding Author

Lee D. Parker

School of Accounting, RMIT University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Adam Smith School of Business, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

Correspondence

Lee D. Parker, School of Accounting, RMIT University, c/o 100 Gover Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5006, Australia.

Email: lee.parker@rmit.edu.au

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Jana Schmitz

Jana Schmitz

School of Accounting, RMIT University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Department of Policy and Advocacy, CPA Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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Kerry Jacobs

Kerry Jacobs

School of Business, UNSW Canberra, Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

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First published: 13 April 2020
Citations: 13

Abstract

In the context of contemporary public sector performance audit practice in Australia, this study provides significant insights into performance auditors’ and auditees’ apparent logics and attitudes to performance audits. Employing a documentary analysis and in-depth semistructured interviews with senior audit leaders from all Australian Auditor-General jurisdictions, performance auditors’ and auditees’ attitudes toward performance audits and their intentions, strategies, and responses were explored through the lens of institutional logics. Empirical evidence reveals that performance auditors’ logics have gradually moved toward greater stakeholder engagement with auditees, parliamentarians, and the media, while preserving their performance audit prerogatives. Auditees appear to become more receptive to performance auditors’ engagement strategies and consultation attempts if auditors maintain a collaborative attitude. Both parties occasionally apply bridging and buffering strategies in situations where their logics are not aligned with those of the other stakeholder group. This study discovered that competing logics held by performance auditors and auditees are in some respects drawn closer together, while differences nonetheless co-exist, although often in an uneasy partnership.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

All documentary data are publicly available in published reports. Interview transcripts are held under confidentiality agreements with all interviewees.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.