Performance Auditing and Policy Evaluation: Discussing Similarities and Dissimilarities

Abstract: For a long time, policy evaluation and performance auditing, were quite distinct activities. In several supreme audit institutions in the industrialized world, there now appears to be a growing collaboration between auditors and evaluators. This paper focuses on possible similarities and dissimilarities of both professional activities. It also points at spin-offs from evaluation to auditing and from auditing to evaluation. The paper is based on the few case studies that are available, as well as on personal experiences of the author, both with auditing and evaluation inside the Netherlands.