Foreign Approac hes to the Audit of Transport System Efficiency at the Regional Level

Abstract

The article is devoted to consideration of foreign instruments for performance audit in the transport sector and to assessment of possibility of applying the methods and procedures of performance audit by Russian regional control and accounting bodies. The objective of the study is to comprehensively analyse the international experience of regulation and organisation of performance audit in the transport sector based on the practices of the Auditor General of Scotland (Great Britain) and the Auditor General of Manitoba (Canada).Considering the traditionally high share of regional budget expenditures spent on development of the transport system, it is noted that assessment of the economy, productivity and efficiency of the use of public resources is important not only for regional authorities, but also for the population and business entities.Based on the analysis of the best practices of regional government audit bodies of Great Britain and Canada in terms of performance audits in the transport sector, advanced methods and audit procedures were recorded that can be applied by Russian regional control and accounting bodies. In particular, the specifics and accuracy of recommendations to the executive authorities presented in the audit report; procedure of assessing correctness of tender procedures and effectiveness of contract execution as part of the performance audit; wide use of external experts during inspections and other features have been noted.