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Public Sector Audit in a period of austerity and reform

紧缩和改革时期的公共部门审计

基本信息

批准号：
ES/L009897/1
负责人：
Margaret Greenwood
金额：
$ 31.45万
依托单位：
University of Bath
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2015
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2015 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FL009897%2F1
关键词：
Public Sector Audit period austerity

项目摘要

On 13 August 2010 the UK's Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, announced the abolition of the Audit Commission, 'protector of the public purse'. "The Audit Commission has lost its way. Rather than being a watchdog that champions taxpayers' interests, it has become the creature of the Whitehall state. We need to redress this balance." Since its creation in 1983 the Audit Commission has appointed auditors, regulated fees and monitored audit quality for public sector organisations such as Local Authorities and National Health Service Trusts whose annual expenditure amounts to £200bn. By April 2017 the Audit Commission will be abolished and the auditing of local public sector organisations will be subject to a new audit regime in which local bodies appoint their own auditors and the monitoring of quality is performed by the Financial Reporting Council. A key aim of these reforms, in a time of austerity, is lower costs. In response, the Commission's 2011 audit tendering process has already secured large fee reductions for the period up to 2017. Unsurprisingly, there are fears for audit quality and for rises in fees when the new regime comes into effect.This project, which comprises three studies focused on the costs and quality of public sector audit, is motivated by the issues raised by these reforms and will build on my prior research in public sector audit, my experience as an NHS non-executive director and my training as an auditor. It will also act as a springboard for a collaborative public sector accounting research centre.STUDY 1 aims to estimate the effect of the new audit regime, which is similar to that for NHS Foundation Trusts, on audit fees and audit quality. This study will inform the current debate on the likely effect of the new regime, which is largely unsupported by research evidence.STUDY 2 looks to the potential for savings in audit fees which are within the control of local management. Study 2 will utilise a unique data set, represented by the pre-audit financial statements of English local authorities, to investigate the relationship between pre-audit financial reporting quality and audit fees. It will provide a basis for estimating potential audit fee savings from improvements in pre-audit financial reporting quality. STUDY 3 investigates, in the previously unexplored setting of local authorities, the relationship between audit quality, auditor type, (Big4, Audit Commission and other) and audit fees over a period of considerable pressure on fees. A distinctive feature of this study will be the construction of novel measures of audit quality which exploit the availability of pre-audit financial statements. The findings could presage a rise in fees or an increase in market concentration once the current audit contracts come to an end. Further, variations in financial reporting quality by auditor may influence future auditor appointments. In addition to informing policy and practice in England these studies have policy relevance for the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies and the Scottish Parliament, none of which is following the English lead, and for wider international audiences in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada where public sector audit has historically followed a similar model to that in the UK. The integration of stakeholder input into the design of each study, the interpretation of findings and their subsequent dissemination will be secured through the establishment of a stakeholder co-production group. The contribution of this group will be central to delivering high quality academic papers and research findings with practice and policy impact. The project overall will act as a springboard for the establishment of a collaborative regional centre for public sector accounting research.

2010年8月13日，英国社区和地方政府大臣宣布废除“国库保护者”审计委员会。“审计署已经迷失了方向。它不再是捍卫纳税人利益的看门狗，而是成为白厅国家的产物。我们需要恢复这种平衡。“自1983年成立以来，审计委员会已任命审计员，监管费用并监督公共部门组织的审计质量，如地方当局和国家卫生服务信托基金，其年度支出达2000亿英镑。到2017年4月，审计委员会将被废除，地方公共部门组织的审计将受到新的审计制度的约束，地方机构将任命自己的审计员，质量监督由财务报告理事会执行。在紧缩时期，这些改革的一个关键目标是降低成本。作为回应，委员会2011年的审计招标程序已确保大幅削减2017年之前的费用。毫不奇怪，有担心审计质量和费用上涨时，新的制度生效。这个项目，其中包括三项研究，重点是公共部门审计的成本和质量，是由这些改革所提出的问题，并将建立在我以前的研究在公共部门审计，我的经验作为NHS非执行董事和我的培训作为一个审计师。研究1旨在评估新审计制度对审计费用和审计质量的影响，该制度类似于NHS基金会信托基金。这项研究将为目前关于新制度可能产生的影响的辩论提供信息，这在很大程度上没有研究证据支持。研究2着眼于在当地管理层的控制范围内节省审计费用的潜力。研究2将利用一个独特的数据集，代表英国地方当局的审计前财务报表，调查审计前财务报告质量和审计费用之间的关系。它将提供一个基础，据以估计通过提高审计前财务报告质量可能节省的审计费。研究3调查，在以前未探索的地方当局的设置，审计质量，审计师类型，（四大，审计署和其他）和审计费用之间的关系，在一段时间内的费用相当大的压力。本研究的一个显着特点将是利用预审计财务报表的可用性的审计质量的新措施的建设。调查结果可能预示着，一旦目前的审计合同结束，收费将上升，市场集中度将提高。此外，审计师财务报告质量的变化可能会影响未来的审计师任命。除了通知政策和实践在英格兰这些研究有政策相关性的威尔士和北方爱尔兰议会和苏格兰议会，没有一个是以下的英语领导，并为更广泛的国际观众在国家，如澳大利亚，新西兰和加拿大，公共部门审计历来遵循类似的模式，在英国。将通过建立一个利益攸关方共同制作小组，确保将利益攸关方的投入纳入每项研究的设计、对研究结果的解释及其随后的传播。该小组的贡献将是提供具有实践和政策影响的高质量学术论文和研究成果的核心。整个项目将成为建立公共部门会计研究合作区域中心的跳板。