Dr. Asher Friedberg, an experienced senior public auditor is a lecturer in state and public audit at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the University of Haifa. Since 1982, he has devoted himself to research on public audit and has written a doctoral thesis on the above subject. This article is a brief summary of his thesis, which deals with public audit at the margins of government.
The propriety of the functioning of public administration systems in contemporary democratic regimes is inconceivable without public audit. The position occupied and tasks performed by public audit in contemporary democratic societies renders it worthy of academic research. It is therefore surprising that academic research has done so little in this area. In light of this, the thesis has attempted to examine and assess in a comparative fashion the phenomenon of public audit within a theoretical framework suitable for an empirical examination of public audit.
The basic hypothesis examined in the research is that the dimensions of public audit in corporations, organizations and bodies which are in the ever expanding margins of the public administration system in Israel are less wide-ranging than at the centre of the system. The theory of centre and margins, advanced by Sharkansky, enables us to distinguish and to classify the various sectors of the public administration system and to allocate them to its centre or margins. In general terms, at the centre there is the government with its ministries; in the margins there are those bodies out of the direct line of control from legislatures, chief executives and staff agencies and which include government corporations, local authorities, the General Federation of Labour (the Histadruth) and other public organizations.
All public audit institutions have a number of general common characteristics. The institutions of public audit dealt with in the research all comply with these general characteristics, though they also have additional ones due to the background, framework and conditions in which they operate. There is reason to believe that the theoretical framework developed in this thesis could also be used for analyzing and comparing public audit institutions of different countries as well as within different countries. This is because of the universal nature of basic public audit characteristics accepted and agreed upon by most countries and organizations.
From the characteristics of public audit one can discern a certain multiphase process, which can be defined as the dimensions of audit. These dimensions, which have been identified and defined, are: audit frequency; audit presence; audit orientation; rectification of shortcomings and audit follow-up; publication of findings; and attitudes towards audit. These dimensions are identified and defined in a quantitative and objective manner and are also evaluated on the basis of the data collected.
These dimensions comprise the theoretical framework for examining and comparing the scope of public audit at the centre and in the margins of the public administration system in Israel.
The research examines six hypotheses which are derived from the above basic hypothesis. The findings confirm both the basic hypothesis and its derivatives and indicate that the frequency and presence of public audit in bodies situated at the margins of the administration system are of a lesser degree than in bodies which are at the centre. The orientation of audit is directed more towards bodies in the centre and differs in nature from audit in the margins; the rectification of shortcomings and audit follow-up in bodies in the margins are also of a lesser degree than at the centre and fewer reports are published concerning these bodies. As regards the attitude of audited bodies in the margins of the system, there is less regard for public audit than at the centre. The activities of public audit at the centre of the system is visible and continuous while diminishing in intensity towards the margins. The findings further indicate that among audited bodies at the margins, the purposes and aims of audit-improvement of the administration and maintaining public accountability-are less widely achieved despite their importance.
A number of explanations are offered as to the reasons for this among which are: Limited awareness of legislative and executive bodies, and of the public at large, regarding the expansion of the margins of the public administration system and its significance; routine, conservatism and rigidity governing the activities of the audited bodies; the absence of adjustment mechanisms within the auditing bodies to changing situations.
These findings have significance regarding the existence, nature and quality of control and supervision exercised by the legislature. As the dimensions of public audit become less wide ranging the ability of the legislature to follow events occurring at the margins and act accordingly diminishes. The. public's right to know through the publication of audit reports also suffers. It may also be presumed that less wide-ranging public audit dimensions in the margins are among the factors which render this area attractive to the activities of bodies whose creators wish to remove them, as far as possible, from public audit and supervision.
The main contribution of the research, on the theoretical level is the development of a framework which enables an analysis and assessment of public audit in general, and of public audit in the public administration system in Israel in particular. On a more practical level the research can contribute to the following: pin-pointing faults and shortcomings in the various stages of public audit activity; the advancement of public audit's potential contribution to the efficiency of the public administration system; improving the processes of information influx to legislative bodies and the public, as well as intensifying their awareness to various processes in the public administration system, mainly in its margins and outer margins; assisting legislative bodies and the public in improving the quality of audit and supervision of the public administration system. .
Note: An English translation of the full text of the summary chapter of the doctoral thesis can be obtained from Dr. Asher Friedberg, Lecturer, Department of Political Science, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.