Politicisation of the audit process: The case of politically affiliated auditors in Swedish local governments

• Published date: 01 November 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12158
• Date: 01 November 2018
• Author: Anna Thomasson

Received: 30 January 2017 Revised: 8 November2017 Accepted: 19 December 2017

DOI: 10.1111/faam.12158

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Politicisation of the audit process: The case of

politically affiliated auditors in Swedish local

governments

Anna Thomasson

BusinessAdministration, Lund University School

ofEconomics and Management, Lund, Sweden

Correspondence

BusinessAdministration, Lund University School

ofEconomics and Management, Lund 22007,

Sweden.

Email:anna.thomasson@fek.lu.se

Fundinginformation

TheCouncil for Local Government Research and

Education,KEFU

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigateand analyse how the inter-

nal audit process as well as the outcome of that process is used for

politically reasons. This will be accomplished by applying the political

theory of politicisation to the analysis of the internal audit process

within Swedish local authorities. By applying the theory of politicisa-

tion, this study contributes to our understanding of how the internal

audit process is open for the use of (de-)politicisation as strategiesto

influence stakeholders’perception of the audit process as well as the

identity and legitimacy of the auditee. Especially interesting is per-

haps how politicisation in combination with de-politicisation can be

used to either put emphasis on issues of political relevance or avoid

addressing issues that are politically sensitive. Previous research on

auditing in public sector organisations has predominately focussed

on audit independence and the role of auditors. By applying a new

perspective to the role of auditing in public sector organisations and

by focussing on the process and the outcome instead of function, this

study increases our understanding of auditing in politically governed

organisations.

KEYWORDS

audit independence, internal auditing processes, organisational

hypocrisy, performance audit, politicisation

1INTRODUCTION

The role of the auditor in a governance system is often compared to that of a watchdog (Bednar,2012; Roussy, 2013)

meaning that the auditors’ role is to protect the stakeholders of an organisation. This is especially important perhaps

in politically governed organisations where transparencyand accountability are crucial in order to protect democratic

values and uphold trust in the system.

However, it is not only external stakeholdersthat gain from an audit process. Power (1997) considers the audit

as a process aiming to produce legitimacy for auditors as well as auditees. This is supported by Justesen and

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2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/faam FinancialAcc & Man. 2018;34:380–391.