Managerialist advocate or "control freak"? : the Janus-faced office of the auditor general
By: SAINT-MARTIN, Denis
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ArticlePublisher: Toronto : IPAC, Summer 2004Canadian Public Administration : the journal of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada 47, 2, p. 121-140Abstract: This article highlights the contradictions in the role of the Office of Auditor General (OAG) and identifies the sources as well as the consequences of the offices Janus-like character as both a managerialist advocate and control freak. This character, it is argued, is shaped by institutional factors and the knowledge-basis on which the office relies to fulfil its mission. Three causes of institutional schizophrenia are identified: the OAGs mandate in relation to financial and value-for-money audit (VFMA); the combination of the OAGs institutional permeability and the structure of the management consulting market; and the tensions between the negative and positive dimensions of the offices mandate. On the consequences side, the author discusses three elements: the limited capacity of the OAG to develop a coherent position about managerialism; the fact that the advocacy of managerialist principles is drawing the OAG closer into the political realm; and the fragility of professionalism as a mechanism for regulating the management consultants role of the OAG in relation to VFMA
This article highlights the contradictions in the role of the Office of Auditor General (OAG) and identifies the sources as well as the consequences of the offices Janus-like character as both a managerialist advocate and control freak. This character, it is argued, is shaped by institutional factors and the knowledge-basis on which the office relies to fulfil its mission. Three causes of institutional schizophrenia are identified: the OAGs mandate in relation to financial and value-for-money audit (VFMA); the combination of the OAGs institutional permeability and the structure of the management consulting market; and the tensions between the negative and positive dimensions of the offices mandate. On the consequences side, the author discusses three elements: the limited capacity of the OAG to develop a coherent position about managerialism; the fact that the advocacy of managerialist principles is drawing the OAG closer into the political realm; and the fragility of professionalism as a mechanism for regulating the management consultants role of the OAG in relation to VFMA
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