Introduction

Chapter 1 introduces this book, providing an overview of public sector audit and the structures in which public sector audit are practised around the world. We focus on Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) as the organising bodies for public sector audit in almost 200 different countries. In this chapter, we introduce what is already known about the different structures that are typically discussed, the context in which SAIs operate and the typical types of audit undertaken by SAIs. A summary of the remaining chapters is also included. In those remaining chapters, we apply theory to explain why SAIs might follow similar models to each other and why they might vary, we collect and examine data about their similarities and differences and we contemplate the future of public sector audit.