Auditor roles in government performance management: auditors can play many valuable roles in advancing performance management in state and local governments.

• Author: Epstein, Paul D.
• Position: [PM.sup.2] Connections: PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT & MANAGEMENT

There are many valuable roles auditors can play, and have played, in advancing performance management in state and local government. Local, state, and provincial auditors often play one or more of these five major roles:

1) Audit Performance or Performance Management Systems. For example, performance audits give management valuable recommendations for improving program performance, one of the primary goals of performance management. And by auditing a government entity's performance management system, auditors help management and elected officials understand how to improve the system and use it better to improve decisions, performance, and accountability.

2) Assess Performance Information. By auditing reliability and relevance of performance information and how it is communicated, auditors help build confidence in the information so managers, elected officials, and citizens are more likely to make good use of it.

3) Define or Measure Performance (or Assist Management in Doing So). Auditors often help management find better measures of performance. And in a number of governments, auditors survey citizens, providing a valuable cross-cutting function by asking about services provided by multiple departments and strengthening the perception of survey objectivity.

4) Encourage or Assist Management. Auditors have encouraged management through advocacy or other means (e.g., written guidance) to improve performance management. They have also served as key arm's-length advisors or partners with management in developing or improving performance management systems that are stronger because of what the auditor brings to the effort.

5) Assist Elected Officials or Citizens. Auditors have related to elected officials and citizens concerning performance management in numerous ways. For example, they have often helped elected officials understand the importance of improving performance management so legislators will provide support for system improvements.

These five roles, along with fourteen related practices, are well documented in a 2004 book based on research of auditor practices. (1) The book and updated materials, including new examples from state and Local auditors and articles describing how auditor practices add value to government performance, are available on the Auditor Roles in Government Performance Measurement Web site (www.AuditorRoles.org), which has a wealth of supporting material.

Even though managing performance is a management function, auditors should be involved in improving performance management because they add value. In many governments, audit offices have one of the strongest pools of quantitative skills, performance analysis skills, and knowledge of good system controls and practices. And they can use the knowledge and skills independently, without being distracted by the demands of day-to-day management. Their independence also adds to the credibility of their recommended improvements, which can build broad support for performance management improvement among elected officials and citizens as well as managers.

No one auditor role or set of practices is "better" or "more appropriate" than the others, according to our research of audit organizations across North America. Or, more explicitly, the best role for a government auditor to play at any given time depends on the maturity of the government organization's performance management system and the willingness and ability of others in the government to improve that system. One of the central findings of our research, especially of audit offices that have at least ten years' experience playing these roles, is that auditors add more value by changing practices as entities' systems evolve. (2)

1) AUDIT PERFORMANCE OR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Performance auditing is a well-established practice in government, with at least a 40-year history of auditors taking an independent look at government programs and recommending improvements. It continues to be valuable at all levels of government. Performance auditing has an interesting, mutually enhancing relationship with performance management. For example:

* When performance management of an agency or program is weak, a performance audit can identify those weaknesses and recommend, for example, improvements needed in how performance is measured, or in how performance data are used.

* A strong performance management system that produces relevant and reliable performance data can, in turn, make performance...