Independent external auditors' efficiency in governmental audits spheres : evidence from south African’s PFMA public entities' audits

Abstract EN

Recent public sector reforms in many jurisdictions enabled independent external auditors from private audit firms to carry out public sector audits in cooperation or under the supervision of Supreme Audit Institutions.

This study investigates how efficient are independent external auditors in governmental audits spheres compared to governmental auditors.

A sample of 506 audit reports issued by the two groups of auditors from South African PFMA public entities is used for an independent samples t-test of audit findings and a Chi-Square test of audit opinions.

Results show that governmental auditors report more total audit findings and issue more modified audit opinions; however, there was no significant differences in reporting financial audit findings.