The National Audit Office and the Scope of Performance Audit

Abstract

The subject of the study is the scope of performance audit (PA) as conducted by the National Audit Office. This type of audit covers only the non-political professional management (administration) in the public sector. That is why the main problem is to distinguish this type of management from political management. The Administration Act, which governs the status and functions of the executive branch bodies and their administrations, has key importance for the clear delineation of the two areas of management. The study applies the terminology and meth- odology (paradigm) of the administrative law. Performance audit, as a rule, pertains to the management of resources (monetary, material, human) in the public sector, a management which is aimed at achieving predefined objectives (of an organization, function, programme, project, etc.) through obtaining maximum results in terms of qual- ity and quantity using available resources. The study outlines three types of mana- gerial (administrative) functions carried out in the public sector.