Cultural factors, quality of government and the effectiveness of Supreme Audit Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Given the importance of public financial management for people well-being, most countries around the world have Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) as an instrument to help achieve better Public Financial Management. SAIs play a key role in ensuring public management accountability. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of Supreme Audit Institutions’ effectiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa. Models are estimated for a sample of Supreme Audit Institutions from 45 countries. The results indicate that the effectiveness of SAIs in Sub-Saharan Africa is associated with the Institutional Quality of Government which takes into account six dimensions of country governance: voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption. In the same vein, SAI effectiveness is found to be associated with institutional and cultural aspects, mainly, the British colonial legacy and the continued adoption of the Westminster SAI model.