Local Government Auditing in France

Abstract

In France, local government external audit is controlled by external auditors called ‘chambres régionales des comptes’ (CRC – Regional Audit Office) which mimicry at the local level the audits conducted by the ‘Cour des comptes’ (CC – National Audit Office) at the national scale. These institutions conduct three kinds of control: legal controls of local public accounts, budgetary controls on behalf of prefects that are political representatives of the central government in the territory and audits of regularity and performance. An experimentation of accounts certification is ongoing. The main part of activities of regional audit institutions is dedicated to performance auditing. But this performance audit is limited to economy and efficiency as the article L. 211-8 of the Code of financial jurisdictions do not allow the CRC to discuss the goals of policies and programmes.

Citation

Guenoun, M. and Degron, R. (2022), "Local Government Auditing in France", Ferry, L. and Ruggiero, P. (Ed.) Auditing Practices in Local Governments: An International Comparison (Emerald Studies in Public Service Accounting and Accountability), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 65-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-085-720221007