ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the effects of organizational culture on a particular type of evaluative activity: the performance review work of independent accountability agencies. It analyzes two pairs of reports and discusses the possible impacts of organizational culture and context on performance review work. The first pair consists of performance reviews of information technology by Ombudsman Victoria and the Victorian Auditor-General, and the second of child support by the Commonwealth Ombudsman in 2008 and Auditor-General. In Australia and most other Commonwealth countries, legislation has established Ombudsmen and public sector audit and institutions to, among other things, provide reports to their Parliaments commenting on aspects of public sector performance. Ombudsmen have the primary function of resolving complaints by individuals about the administrative actions of public sector agencies. For many Ombudsmen this performance review work is a subsidiary role and little consideration is given to methodological issues or to distinguishing the role from those more strictly belonging to administrative law.
