Background to the acceptance and adoption of continuous auditing in the brazilian public sector: the case of the court of auditors of the state of sao paulo

Objective: Examine the factors that affect the auditor's decision to accept the Continuous Audit, including four contextual factors at the institutional level and four individual characteristics, from the perspective of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Methodology: To estimate the relationships between the constructs and variables presented in the research model and to test the hypotheses, Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were used using the Partial Least Squares Path Modeling method. The unit of analysis is the Court of Auditors of the State of Sao Paulo and the sample is composed of 84 respondents. Originality: Discuss the antecedents of acceptance of the Continuous Audit in the public sector, in an external control body, contributing to the mitigation of the exaggerated latency between the administrative acts and the accountability of the public manager. Results: The results indicate that the auditors believe that the adoption of Continuous Auditing will be facilitated by the perception of the system's usefulness and productivity gains. Also, that your effort associated with the use of technology will be favorable, increasing your intention to use it. Contrary to the results of surveys carried out in private organizations, the results suggest that Social Influence is not a discriminating factor for auditors to adopt CA. Contribution: Evidence of the relevance of adopting new public management control instruments, such as the Continuous Audit, incorporating technologies in the control and inspection processes, and the analysis of users' perceptions in order to mitigate early resistance.