Concepts and Context

In this part of the Practice Guide, auditors will find:

Basic information on:
- what is efficiency and why it is important to audit it;
- the relationships between efficiency, economy and effectiveness; and

distinctions between the public sector and the private sector and what they imply for efficiency in the public sector.

Precisions on the audit mandates of legislative and internal auditors with regard to efficiency.
Answers to two important questions:
- can efficiency be isolated from economy and effectiveness?; and
- can efficiency be audited independently from economy and effectiveness?
Descriptions of a number of measures to improve efficiency used in the public sector.
Definitions of the seven management activities that can foster efficiency in the public sector.

And:

An overview of the experience of Canada and other countries in auditing efficiency.

The Concepts and Context part of the Practice Guide also includes links to audit reports and other relevant references on auditing efficiency.