The Quest for Audit Quality in the Public Sector

We assess audit quality in the public sector of two European jurisdictions by using the model developed by English and Guthrie. Accordingly, we analysed the enabling legislations of the two supreme audit institutions in terms of the issues relating to (i) accountability to their respective parliaments; and (ii) independence from their respective executives. The results highlight strong legal provisions that enable independence, and point to some weaknesses regarding accountability. We show that, since the English and Guthrie model was developed in an Australasian context where state audits are designed on the private sector model, the model needs to be amended in order to apply in an European context.