ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the groundwork for an understanding of what a performance audit/audit regime might do for any manager looking to commission one. Performance audits can also be undertaken on a rolling basis, to regularly deliver a comment on the state of play and compliance of the contractual provisions overall. Transparency means that management implications of any subject being considered are similarly open and able to be understood. Spot checks, based on a percentage of performance requirements can give a realistic picture of how a contract is performing, by applying a percentage success/failure rate across a contractual provision, from the success/ failure ratio found during the sample. A problem for any contractor, especially in a PFI Contract, is that transparency of processes may well result in financial penalties. The National Audit Office definition of VFM quoted above as the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes' neatly summarises the balancing act that VFM is meant to achieve.
