The quality policy for public financial audit, case of the French supreme audit institution

Citation

(2014), "The quality policy for public financial audit, case of the French supreme audit institution", Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAOC-10-2013-0077

The quality policy for public financial audit, case of the French supreme audit institution

Article Type: Doctoral research abstract From: Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Volume 10, Issue 1

Purpose – This research concerns the quality policy of financial audit carried out by the French supreme audit institution. The research seeks to answer this question: are practices and ceremonies, resulting from private sector and adopted in public organizations really improving practices or are they just a constraint?
Design/methodology/approach – Two methodological approaches are requested, an international comparative study and a longitudinal case study of three years (2006-2009) in the French supreme audit institution.
Findings – The comparative study evinces a convergence for the major themes covered by the quality policy of supreme audit institutions (SAI) and reveals the specifics related to the context of these institutions. The case study provides a characterization of the change in the quality policy of the French SAI and an adaptation of the theoretical explanatory model of audit quality to highlight a syncretism between traditional tools of the French supreme audit institution and the imported Anglo-Saxon model tools.
Research limitations/implications – Design research has led to a focus on longitudinal case study that required an investment involving a lack of distance with the case and the actors due to full integration within the institution. In addition, the change is perceived with a relatively deterministic approach that does not take into account the involving process for stakeholders.
Practical implications – The study of the quality perception by the public financial audit actors has given rise to new explanatory criteria for audit quality concerning the organizational skills, the team operating and the individual behaviors and skills. The research also helps the French SAI to take into account its environment, a consideration directly applied it the implementation process of quality policy through the different choices made by the court.
Originality/value – This innovative study on the quality of the public financial audit helps to illuminate and make critical judgments on the international movement of reforms in the public sector.

Keywords: Audit, Quality, Public management, Supreme audit institution

Research type – Qualitative research

Degree – Doctorate

Institution – Poitiers University, IAE

Supervisors – Evelyne Lande

Contact e-mail – mailto:mportal@iae.univ-poitiers.fr

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IAE, Poitiers University, Poitiers, France