In recent years, substantial changes have been implemented to the audit regimes for local authorities in several countries. Following the abolishment of the Audit Commission, a unique regime for the audit of local authorities has emerged in England, with external audit now fully conducted by private sector audit firms. Auditor appointments for the vast majority of local authorities are now managed by a new organisation, Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited (PSAA). Drawing on the determinants of audit credibility developed by Funnell, Wade and Jupe (2016), this paper examines how local authority stakeholders in the transformed landscape of local public audit in England perceive audit credibility, including the role of PSAA and other audit stakeholders. Findings show that the impact of current arrangements is positively perceived by stakeholders in relation to auditors’ technical competence and independence, at least in the short term, however significant concern is found amongst stakeholders regarding the usefulness of local public audits. Compared to Funnell et al. (2016), we ascribe these differences to the different context of audit in English local government and suggest the relative weighting of determinants of audit credibility are contingent.

中文翻译：

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利益相关者对英国地方政府审计可信度的态度：审计委员会后的分析

近年来，一些国家的地方当局的审计制度发生了重大变化。随着审计委员会的废除，英国出现了一种独特的地方当局审计制度，外部审计现在完全由私营部门的审计公司进行。绝大多数地方当局的审计员任命现在由一个新组织公共部门审计任命有限公司 (PSAA) 管理。本文借鉴了 Funnell、Wade 和 Jupe（2016 年）提出的审计可信度的决定因素，研究了在英国地方公共审计转型格局中的地方当局利益相关者如何看待审计可信度，包括 PSAA 和其他审计利益相关者的作用。调查结果表明，至少在短期内，利益相关者对与审计师的技术能力和独立性有关的当前安排的影响有积极的看法，但利益相关者对当地公共审计的有用性存在重大担忧。与 Funnell 等人相比。(2016)，我们将这些差异归因于英国地方政府审计的不同背景，并建议审计可信度决定因素的相对权重是或有的。