The audit report as an instrument for accountability in local governments: a proposal for Spanish municipalities

This article explores the possibility that common standards for performance audit reports may result in increased objectivity and accountability, and that this could narrow the ‘audit expectations gap’ and contribute to good governance within local government. Inspired by the UK's external performance auditing model and considering the current scenario in Spain, a number of hypotheses are formulated whereby the audit of a set of aspects in the areas of managing finances, governing the business and managing resources leads to higher accountability as a result of the audit reports. These hypotheses are tested through a survey to internal and external auditors of the Spanish local government. The strong endorsement of these aspects in the survey responses leads to their inclusion in the content of the audit reports. In addition, this content is simplified through a factor analysis of the suitability of smaller municipalities, and a practical contribution is offered by providing a template for external audit ...