ABSTRACT
This study examines performance auditing and accountability in public sector entities. It proxy performance auditing with the component of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and introduced ethics and equity as control variables.
Inclined on the positivist research philosophy and deductive research approach, the study adopted the survey research design. A total of one hundred of twenty-six (126) copies of a structured questionnaire was successfully administered to Accountants, Treasurers, Internal Auditors and Heads of Local Government Administration (HOLGA) in the eighteen (18) local governments areas in Edo State. The study employed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression as inferential statistics. All classical assumptions of regression, such as multicolinearity, constant residual error, serial correlation and normality analysis was executed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.
The findings from the analysis revealed that performance auditing is significant to public sector accountability. Specifically, the study found that the three component (economy, efficiency and effectiveness) of performance auditing positively and significantly affects public sector accountability because, it provides the enabling environment for it to materialise by closing the loopholes for corruption to thrive and the study recommended that personnel with the right educational and professional qualification should be deployed to procurement department in public sector entities in order to achieve economy in the use of public resources, there should be adequate planning, coordination supervision of all programmes, projects and policies undertaking be the government on behalf of her citizens to ensure that the result(s) obtained from projects and programmes undertaken by the government on behalf of citizens outweighs or justifies the cost incurred in its administration, criteria for evaluating government policies, projects and programmes undertaken on behalf of citizens should be clearly stated in order to measure the effectiveness of resources, Provisions should be made to reduce or eradicate all forms of unethical practices and Effective supervision should be done in distribubution of public resources to citizens, in order to achieve equitably distribution of public goods and services.
