Transparency-generated trust: The problematic theorization of public audit

Abstract

Public audit has been under-theorized, the existing literature too dominated by institutional description. Public audit may be interpreted as promoting transparency in order to generate trust, thus leading to legitimacy. Disaggregating transparency and trust, the article develops a subtler analysis of their role in public audit. By integrating collibration into the processes of economization, the governance of public audit and its operational activities are illuminated. Expected to be bloodhound, not just watchdog, public audit space is currently contested and can be forcibly evacuated. Transparency-generated trust might be the outcome, but providing a well-evidenced transparency should be public audit's mission.