Performance Audit and Policy Evaluation in the Western Balkans: On the Same or Parallel Tracks?

Lazarević, Milena and Đinđić, Miloš and Kačarska, Simonida and Marović, Jovana and Šošić, Marko and Cuculoska, Kristina (2015) Performance Audit and Policy Evaluation in the Western Balkans: On the Same or Parallel Tracks? [Study]

Study description

This study analyses the relationship between performance audit and policy evaluation. While the former is performed by supreme audit institutions, the latter is a competence of internal/external policy evaluators. Having in mind that they tackle the same phenomenon i.e. assessment of governmental activities, it is paramount to examine the extent of their complementarity. The authors propose that interlinking the fields would generate benefits in terms of contributing to the improvement of the performance of the public sector. More specifically, they argue that although institutionally performed by state bodies themselves or external evaluators, policy evaluation could make use of data stemming from the performance audit. The proposed research falls under wider framework of the new public management concept (NPM). The experience of the new EU Member States showed that NPM applied as a model has a debilitating impact in countries that do not have a well-functioning public administration. Nevertheless, elements stemming from that model are being still applied in the current EU enlargement to the Western Balkans. On the other hand, performance audit and policy evaluation have not been subject of comparative studies except for World Bank and OECD assessments. This research aims to fill this gap by bringing comparative insight from the Western Balkans candidate countries for the EU membership, i.e. Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. First, the paper studies the state of play of performance audit and policy evaluation and their interrelationships in selected countries. Second, the findings from the Western Balkans are assessed against practices from EU member states (selected case studies). The study relies on qualitative methodology, i.e. document analysis of primary and secondary literature as well as data from semi-structured interviews with relevant actors.

Keywords:	Serbia, Western Balkans, policy evaluation, Macedonia, Montenegro, performance audit, public administration
Depositing User:	Jelena Banovic
Date Deposited:	22 Oct 2019 12:40
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2019 12:40
URI:	http://dcs.ien.bg.ac.rs/id/eprint/57
Additional details Additional details Alternative title: Revizija svrsishodnosti i evaluacija javnih politika na Zapadnom Balkanu: Na istom ili paralelnom koloseku? Creators: Creators Email Lazarević, Milena UNSPECIFIED Đinđić, Miloš UNSPECIFIED Kačarska, Simonida UNSPECIFIED Marović, Jovana UNSPECIFIED Šošić, Marko UNSPECIFIED Cuculoska, Kristina UNSPECIFIED Type of data: no data Study period: From To 1 July 2014 31 October 2015 Temporal coverage: From To 2000 2015 Date: 26 August 2015 Geographic coverage: Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia Study method: The research relied on qualitative thematic analyses of documents and data from interviews with key stakeholders who are involved and shape the processes of evaluation and performance audit in these countries, as well as the EU case studies analysed. The three case studies of the Western Balkans (Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia) were subject to comprehensive explorative research of the processes of performance audit and policy evaluation, as well as the link between the two, while the EU countries studied (for comparative case studies – UK, the Netherlands, Finland, Estonia, France, Slovenia) were analysed for lesson drawing purposes with a more targeted approach and with a limited scope. Legislation and relevant strategic documents on both policy evaluation and performance audit in the countries under examination were studied through document analysis. These include constitutions, laws (for example on state audit institutions), as well as relevant reports, including performance audit reports and reports on policy evaluation, all of which were subjected to thematic analysis. In order to locate this study in conceptual and empirical literature the existing secondary literature on performance audit and its linkages to policy evaluation was studied. In order to study the operation of the two processes (PA and policy evaluation) in practice, and the potential and need for their linkage, »elite« and »expert« semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders in the three countries. Resource language: English Metadata language: English Publisher: UK Data Archive Copyright holders: RRPP Contact email address: milos.djindjic@cep.org.rs Last Modified: 22 Oct 2019 12:40