How the Activities of the Court of Auditors Affect Public Administrations

By Elisa D'Alterio
Abstract

The activities of the Court of Auditors can pervade the daily actions of public administrations, especially at the functional level. This essay examines how, with regard to the main categories of activity carried out by the Court (checks, accounting agents and ascertainment of administrative responsibility), the administrations are conditioned in many aspects of their action, including on the basis of conditioned reflexes or — more or less founded — fear. This analysis takes into account the enormous complexity of the regulatory framework governing controls on public administrations and malfunctions that arise also due to the overlapping of tasks and roles. The persistent crisis of public finances exacerbates such a situation. However, at the territorial level, where the Court’s activities cannot have the same pervasiveness that they reach at central level, inopportune uses of public resources are more frequent and widespread.