Performance audit as a tool oriented at the accountability of public finance spending in Poland against the background of UK practices
Performance audit as a tool oriented at the accountability of public finance spending in Poland against the background of UK practices

Summary/Abstract: In recent years, public finance spending in Poland has been subject to citizens’ critical assessment. It forces public finance sector units to introduce tools that will enable the effectiveness of actions within this area to be scrutinized. The performance audit, a new idea of auditing oriented at performance, provides such a tool. At the same time, a chance to introduce accountability to Polish public finance sector entities appeared. The aim of the article is to determine the role and usefulness of performance audits for the effective management of public finances by public finance sector units in Poland with reference to British practice in this area. In the article, the author attempted to answer the question about what the perspective of performance audit development is in Poland in the next couple of years. To achieve the goal, the author used an analysis of the Polish and foreign literature on the subject, an analysis of legal instruments of internal audit, the comparative analysis method, and benchmarking (modelled on the British practice, the author indicating the implications connected with implementing performance audits in public finance sector units in Poland as well as mentioning legal-economic loopholes that should be closed in order to raise the effectiveness of performance audit in public finance sector in Poland). The author’s conclusions are based on deduction. Considering the experience of Great Britain, one may think that the role of the performance audit in Poland will grow along with the development of managerial control within public institutions, causing the rationalization of public finance spending. The aspects that should be complemented in the scope of the performance audit include: cyclical, not short-term, control of the use of public finances by government institutions, and acknowledging this tool as an obligatory element of management

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