In the April 5, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, Eugene resident Brian Wanty writes in a letter:
What is the best way to improve local government performance?
A review of 86 rigorous empirical research articles over the past 40 years found “the evidence points toward strong positive performance effects resulting from staff quality, personnel stability, and planning, and moderate support for the benefits of networking, representative bureaucracy, and strategy content” (Walker, Richard and Rhys Andrews, 2015, “Local Government Management and Performance: A Review of Evidence,” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25:101-133).
The leading textbook on city management recommends Management by Objectives or the Lean Six Sigma system as the best ways to improve performance. (England, Robert, John Pelissero and David Morgan, 2016, “Managing Urban America,” Washington, D.C., CQ Press.)
Neither of these recent overviews found performance auditing effective enough to warrant a mention.