The Office of Auditor General Zambia: becoming a professional audit office that empowers the public

Abstract

The Office of Auditor General in Zambia plays a central public accountability role in Zambia since it audits the government's use of public resources and reports its findings to parliament. Over the past decade, the audit office has made significant changes in the way in which it conducts its audits and in its interactions with the public. It has improved the quality, quantity and timeliness of its reporting, providing the Zambian Parliament with better resources for holding government entities accountable. The office now also provides ordinary citizens across Zambia with information from its audit reports. These changes within the Zambian audit office are understood using two concepts from institutional theory: institutional entrepreneurship and translation. By using concepts that have been important for institutional analysis in the Global North for this analysis within the Global South, this chapter contributes to the literatures in institutional theory and public accountability in development.