This paper explores the value of financial statement auditing in the public sector. The study applies theory about auditing from the private sector as well as the public sector to explore ways in which public sector auditing can be expected to be valuable. It shows that there are a number of complementary explanations that can be applied to examine the value of public audit, including agency, signaling, insurance, management control, governance and confirmation explanations. The evidence from research and history is generally consistent with the agency and management control explanations. There is some support for the signaling and insurance explanations, while research evidence suggests that governance has differing impact in the public sector compared to the private. The confirmation hypothesis is also potentially relevant. Reviewing the history of the development of public sector auditing functions shows that at least some developments were consistent with explanations such as agency theory and management control. Auditing in the public sector is an area where more research is valuable. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues for further investigation.

中文翻译：

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公共部门审计的价值：文学与历史

本文探讨了公共部门财务报表审计的价值。这项研究运用了来自私营部门和公共部门的审计理论，以探索期望公共部门审计有价值的方式。它表明，有许多补充说明可用于检查公共审计的价值，包括代理，信号，保险，管理控制，治理和确认说明。来自研究和历史的证据通常与代理和管理控制的解释相一致。对信号和保险的解释有一些支持，而研究证据表明，与私人相比，治理对公共部门的影响不同。确认假设也可能具有相关性。回顾公共部门审计职能发展的历史表明，至少某些发展与诸如代理理论和管理控制之类的解释是一致的。公共部门的审计是需要更多研究的领域。本文最后讨论了有待进一步研究的问题。