Public auditing in the delegated sphere: Implications for governance

Seminar summary

Delegated governance is a defining feature of modern public sectors around the globe. In such settings, a variety of decentralized providers delivers public services while the accountability for service delivery remains with the administration. The management of relationships with providers has therefore become a critical administrative task. Public audit institutions occupy a central position in these relationships that has so far been largely under-researched and poorly understood. Our work unpacks how administrative units react to audits that identify performance and coordination issues in service delivery. Investigating delegated governance in the City of Vienna, our findings demonstrate that administrative units respond by authoritative measures – but also reach out for dialogue with providers. Conceptually, audits therefore strengthen administrative accountability and lead to improved relationship management in settings of delegated governance.

How to attend this seminar

This seminar will take place on Wednesday 12 June 2024 at 12pm.

We welcome you to join us online.

This seminar is free to attend with no need to register in advance.

Speaker bio

Dr Tobias Polzer

To­bi­as Pol­zer is assistant professor at the Institute for Organization Studies at WU Vi­en­na. He received a PhD in Pu­blic Ma­nage­ment from WU. Tobias was pre­vious­ly em­ploy­ed at Queen's Uni­ver­si­ty Bel­fast, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Essex and the University of Sussex. He was vi­si­ting re­se­ar­cher at UNSW Syd­ney (Aus­tra­lia), Rut­gers Uni­ver­si­ty (USA) and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Queens­land (Aus­tra­lia). In 2021, he was visiting professor at the University of Macerata (Italy).

Tobias is Editorial Board Member of European Management Journal (EMR), Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management (JPBAFM), International Journal of Public Sector Management (IJPSM) and Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies (JAEE).