Performance Audit Manual

The Performance Audit Manual is one part of the suite of procedures and guidance provided by the European Court of Auditors. Its purpose is to:

• help to achieve high quality in performance audits, and

• promote professional competence amongst auditors in this domain.

The manual has been written to meet the needs of auditors and audit management. It explains in broad terms how performance audits should be planned, conducted and reported.

The manual is based on generally accepted principles of performance auditing, as evidenced in the INTOSAI implementation guidelines for performance auditing and current good practice in this area. It encourages the exercise of professional judgement at all stages throughout the audit, which is essential given the variety of potential audit topics, objectives and data collection and analysis methods available in performance audit.