Audits as assurance in contemporary regulatory governance

Stefan Renckens and Graeme Auld

Chapter 2 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Business and Government, 2026, pp 7-11 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Over the past few decades, audits have become key features of regulatory governance. Whether in public policy or in voluntary, market-based governance initiatives, audits are used to verify whether regulatory targets—often companies—comply with standards around responsible practices. The substantive standards and the standard-setting organizations have received ample scholarly attention. But the regulatory agents that perform the compliance audits—private auditors—are poorly understood. In this entry, we argue that the political economy of auditing in regulatory governance warrants closer scholarly attention. While proponents of the audit-based governance model value the legitimacy and credibility auditors offer, more critical scholars highlight the challenges it presents to the authority of the state. The diversity of interests and power in the auditor population has potentially important implications for the regulation of the auditor market, the increased use of auditors for rule verification, and the opportunities for improving this model of governance.

Keywords: Audits; Compliance; Intermediaries; Regulatory governance; Sustainability; Verification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035307777
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