Abstract

LAGUNES LOPEZ, Oscar Nicasio  and  PINEDA PABLOS, Nicolás. El arte de contar cuentos y rendir cuentas: La revisión de las cuentas públicas del Gobierno de Sonora, 2004-2010. Región y sociedad [online]. 2013, vol.25, n.56, pp.231-268. ISSN 2448-4849.

This article examines the oversight of public accounts in five agencies of the Sonora State Government between 2004 and 2012. The research question is how effective is the audit carried out by the Superior Institute of Audit and Inspection (ISAF) in combatting the misuse of public resources. Upon reviewing the legal framework, we found that ISAF does not have the power to sanction; this activity is carried out by the State General Comptroller, an office that reports to the Executive. Moreover, an analysis of the observations, resolutions and sanctions mentioned in performance reports presented by ISAF showed that, during the period studied, no observations at all were made to the Office of the Executive and that, in other government agencies, the number of observations increased, but the number of those resolved decreased. Finally, there is no information linking unresolved observations to the sanctions applied by the office of the Comptroller. The general conclusion is that, due to the structural design of the oversight process, which turns the application of sanctions over to the Executive Power, the audits carried out by ISAF, although they inhibit the misuse of resources in the lower levels of the state administration, do not prevent embezzlement of funds in the upper levels.

Keywords : public audit; public account; accountability; corruption; sanctions; Government of Sonora; Mexico.

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