The Necessity of Establishment of Performance Audit from the viewpoint of Public Sector Auditors

Performance audits provide elected officials and government employees with an objective, third- party analysis of their operations to help them improve performance, reduce costs, and make informed, data-driven decisions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of performance audit in improving public sector’s performance. The population of this study is the auditors and accountants working in the public sector (Supreme Audit Court). The needed data was gathered through questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis including mean score and mean score ranking was used to analyze data. According to the research findings, paying attention to all three elements of performance audit (economy, efficiency, and effectiveness) is necessary. In addition, the results show that the public auditor is not the only profession that can carry out performance audit, but can team up with other professions. “Lack of cooperation and commitment from top managers in conducting a performance audit” was recognized as the top most constraint. Furthermore, performance audit was claimed to be able to enhance public accountability, as well as to enable more economical, efficient and effective utilizing of public resources.