Abstract: Delegated governance is a defining feature of modern public sectors around the globe. In such settings, a variety of decentralized providers delivers public services while the accountability for service delivery remains with the administration. The management of relationships with providers has therefore become a critical administrative task. Public audit institutions occupy a central position in these relationships that has so far been largely under-researched and poorly understood. Our work unpacks how administrative units react to audits that identify performance and coordination issues in service delivery. Investigating delegated governance in the City of Vienna, we our findings demonstrate that administrative units respond by authoritative measures – but also reach out for dialogue with providers. Conceptually, audits therefore strengthen administrative accountability and lead to improved relationship management in settings of delegated governance.

Keywords: public auditing, delegated governance, accountability, fragmentation, coordination