Public Expenditure Control in Europe: Co-ordinating Audit Functions in the European Union
| Published date | 01 July 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207670502000311 |
| Date | 01 July 2005 |
| Author | Roger P Levy |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
practitioners
with
an
interest
in
quality
and
performance
management
as
elements
of
public
management
reform.
Peter
Falconer
Queen
Margaret
University
College
Public
Expenditure
Control
in
Europe:
Co-ordinating
Audit
Functions
in
the
European
Union,
Milagros
Garcia
Crespo
(ed).,
Edward
Elgar,
2005,
256pp.
It
is
perhaps
a
sign
of
the
times
that
texts
and
monographs
about
state
supreme
audit
institutions
(SAIs),
financial
control
and
the
'value
for
money'
agenda
are
no
longer
the
exclusive
preserve
of
the
'Anglo-Saxon'
school
of
public
management,
broadly
defined
to
include
the
English
speaking
OECD
countries,
the
Scandinavians
and
the
Dutch.
This
collection
draws
heavily
on
practitioners
from
the
Iberian
peninsula,
along
with
contributions
from
state
audit
professionals the
UK,
Germany
and
the
Netherlands.
The
book
is
split
into
two
parts,
the
first
6
chapters
surveying
different
forms
of
'public
control'
in
the
UK,
the
Netherlands,
Germany,
Spain
and
the
European
Union
(in
this
case,
the
European
Court
of
Auditors),
and
the
final
three
focussing
on
audit
co-ordination
within
the
European
Union.
For
an
academic
audience,
it
is
always
interesting
to
read
the
thoughts
of
those
who
practice
public
management.
Such
volumes
are
useful
sources
which
can
supplement
other
primary
data,
and
they
give
an
insider's
view
often
unavailable
to
academics.
However,
as
with
many
collections
of
this
type,
it
has
certain
hallmarks:
it
is
largely
descriptive,
rarely
analytical,
does
not
refer
to
much
of
the
known
academic
literature
in
the
field,
suffers
intermittently
from
historical
amnesia
and
cultural
particularism,
and
contains
doses
of
prescription
and
action
planning
of
what
should
be
done
next.
For
a
book
which
has
coordination
as
its
theme,
it
would
appear
that
the
professionals
are
either
not
talking
to
each
other,
or
if
they
are,
they
do
not
seem
to
be
listening
to
what
the
other
is
saying.
Having
said
that,
Crespo's
opening
chapter
does
set
the
context
of
change
and
development
generally
to
state
audit
quite
well,
repeating
observations
made
by
many
proponents
of
the
'New
Public
Management'
and
the
associated
audit
and
performance
management
'explosions'.
Very
usefully,
Crespo
identifies
three
different
models
of
SAI,
viz:
the
Anglo-Saxon,
the
German
and
the
Latin.
These
are
defined
in
three
dimensions,
namely
their
institutional
design
(collegiate
vs.
single
auditor),
locus
(to
the
executive
and
legislature),
and
their
judicial
powers.
As
for
the
European
Court
of
Auditors,
it
is
described
as
part
of
a
unique
system
with
particular
problems
of
multi-
level
control,
unclear
lines
of
accountability
and
a
plethora
of
ill-matching
systems,
something
the
Court
itself
and
this
reviewer
have
been
saying
for
decades.
These
issues
are
also
taken
up
by
a
former
member
of
the
Court,
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
20
No.
3
Autumn
2005
125
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