Performance audit: evolution and relevance at the state level

Abstract

The performance audit is relevant because it allows to verify the achievement of objectives and goals with strategic and management indicators, to know the results of the application of public resources and the social impact that is generated through various programs and projects; Therefore, it promotes economic, effective and efficient governance and contributes to accountability and transparency. The objective in this work is to evaluate the evolution and relevance that it presents in the state level, with reference of the federal performance audits made by Instituto Superior de Auditoría y Fiscalización (ISAF) and by Secretaría de la Contraloría General (SECOG) with entities that have been subject to supervision in the state of Sonora; this, through a documentary and descriptive type of work. The analysis of the data was approached from a qualitative and quantitative aspect. Results obtained in the governmental entities are exposed in the substantive and critical aspects of their mission, highlighting that at national level Auditoría Superior de la Federación (ASF) in the course of fourteen years, made only twenty-two ADs in Sonora. At the local state level, the auditing bodies are in the stage of gestation in this type of audit; the official figures report the beginning of the AD in 2018; At the same time, a support instrument is provided to practice performance audits, as they are limited or not known in the processes of the state.