The performance audit : are there differences in the planning approach and practices followed within the South African public sector?

The importance of a formal, documented approach and methodology as part of the audit process is wellrecognised. \nIn South Africa, only a few national departments have dedicated performance audit sections within \nthe Internal Audit Function (IAF), and limited performance audits are being conducted. The limited execution of \nperformance audits and the lack of information on performance audit methodologies adopted within the public \nsector by IAFs prompted this research. The research objective was to identify the differences in the \nperformance audit planning practices followed by internal auditors within the South African public sector, as \nwell as the reasons behind these differences, by critically comparing the performance audit methodologies \nwithin the IAFs in selected national departments with the methodology followed by the AGSA. The results \nindicated that, although differences do exist between the performance audit planning practices of these \ninstitutions and those of the AGSA, numerous similarities also exist. Research on the different planning \nactivities prescribed by the methodologies adopted by national departments and the AGSA provides valuable \ninformation that may contribute to the growth of the performance audit discipline in the public sector and could \nenable the performance audit process itself to become more effective and efficient. It is recommended that \nnational departments and the AGSA consider these differences and the rationale behind these differences \nwhen compiling or updating their performance audit methodology.