External Audits and Official Controls - What’s the Difference in Their Usefulness and Credibility?

Central European Management Journal 2024
Piotr Rogala, Piotr Kafel, Inga Lapiņa

Purpose: The study aims to determine whether audited organizations experience differences between external audits and official controls. Design/methodology/approach: A survey among 100 organic food producers was conducted to explore differences regarding the usability of external audits and official controls. The survey was conducted in 2020 using the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) method supplemented by the computer-assisted web interview (CAWI) method. Organizations processing organic farming products in Poland were chosen for the study. Findings: Three primary benefits associated with external audits and official controls were identified, i.e. (1) enabling and initiating activities related to the improvement of the organization, (2) improving the financial performance of the organization and (3) enhancing credibility. For most organizations, the assessment of these features was at the same level for both external audits and official control. However, if these assessments differed, commercial audits were assessed at a higher level than official controls. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to only one specific type of manufacturing organization and one European country. Originality/value: The literature review shows some conceptual differences between audits and official controls, but the results of this study show that the business environment does not perceive these differences as significant. Thus, the value of the study is reflected in the conclusion that both external audits and official controls are considered useful and credible approaches to monitoring the quality within the organization, which allows us to state that external evaluation is generally seen as an opportunity to improve the performance of the organization.

Keywords
External audit, Official control, Management system, Food industry, Organic food
DOI
10.1108/CEMJ-04-2022-0055
Hyperlink
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/CEMJ-04-2022-0055/full/html

Rogala, P., Kafel, P., Lapiņa, I. External Audits and Official Controls - What’s the Difference in Their Usefulness and Credibility?. Central European Management Journal, 2024, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp.1-17. ISSN 2658-0845. e-ISSN 2658-2430. Available from: doi:10.1108/CEMJ-04-2022-0055

Publication language
English (en)