AUDIT study: To determine whether federal and state audits increase Mexican municipalities' compliance with a federal grant program to improve municipal infrastructure

A randomized trial to determine whether federal and state audits increase Mexican municipalities' compliance with a federal grant program to improve municipal infrastructure

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN22381841

Enrollment

Registered

2012-11-02

Start date

2011-03-26

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2024-01-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Public health Not Applicable

Interventions

The study will involve 85 municipalities, 5 from each of 17 Mexican states participating in the study. 17 municipalities (one per state) will be assigned at random to be audited by the Federal Audito

another 17 municipalities (one per state) will be assigned at random to be audited by their State Auditor

the remaining 51 municipalities (3 per state) receive no treatment. Other than the random assignment the intervention consists of audits carried out as usual by federal and state level auditors.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: We selected our convenience sample using the following criteria: Stage 1 From the universe of 2,440 municipalities located in 31 states select: 1. States with more than 20 municipalities 2. Municipalities with FISM transfers in 2010 of 10 million pesos or more 3. Municipalities not audited in the previous two years (2009, 2010) 4. Municipalities not amongst the 43 pre-selected by the ASF for the 2011 National Program of Audits Stage 2 From this selection of 767 municipalities located in 21 states select: 1. States with 5 or more municipalities 2. For each state, rank municipalities in decreasing order of FISM transfers and choose by state the five municipalities with ranks 6 to 10.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: Does not meet inclusion criteria

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
1. Municipal administrators? awareness scale: the sum score of observed binary responses to five questions about treatment awareness. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0 to 5]. 2. Binary indicator equal to one if respondent to survey expects the probability of being audited in 2012 is less than the probability of being audited in 2013. 3. Respondent's perceived probability of being audited over years 2013-2015. The continuous measure ranges in the closed interval [0, 1] 4. Municipal administrators' knowledge scale, the sum score of observed binary responses to 24 items asking about the rules governing the federal Contribution Fund for Social Infrastructure (FISM, in Spanish). The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,24]. 5. Simple average of subjects' response to the proportion of FISM grant money that ought to be invested (i) outside council seat and (ii) in public goods. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,100] 6. Simple average of Municipal administrators? perception of (i) municipal capacity and (ii) their experience and perceptions about need for training. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,24]. 7. Municipalities' compliance with FISM reporting and data accessibility rules. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,4]. 8. Simple average of (i) the actual proportion of investments going to municipal council seat and (ii) the actual proportion going to public goods as reported by the municipality to the federal Treasury. The continuous measure ranges in the closed interval [0, 1].	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Municipal administrators? awareness scale: the sum score of observed binary responses to five questions about treatment awareness. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0 to 5]. 2. Binary indicator equal to one if respondent to survey expects the probability of being audited in 2012 is less than the probability of being audited in 2013. 3. Respondent's perceived probability of being audited over years 2013-2015. The continuous measure ranges in the closed interval [0, 1] 4. Municipal administrators' knowledge scale, the sum score of observed binary responses to 24 items asking about the rules governing the federal Contribution Fund for Social Infrastructure (FISM, in Spanish). The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,24]. 5. Simple average of subjects' response to the proportion of FISM grant money that ought to be invested (i) outside council seat and (ii) in public goods. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,100] 6. Simple average of Municipal administrators? perception of (i) municipal capacity and (ii) their experience and perceptions about need for training. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,24]. 7. Municipalities' compliance with FISM reporting and data accessibility rules. The integer measure ranges in the closed interval [0,4]. 8. Simple average of (i) the actual proportion of investments going to municipal council seat and (ii) the actual proportion going to public goods as reported by the municipality to the federal Treasury. The continuous measure ranges in the closed interval [0, 1].

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Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Simple average of the municipal rankings in terms of (i) number of observations made by auditors during a municipal audit and (ii) amount of refunds to the federal treasury requested. 2. Average municipal observation score measuring the average severity of audit findings. The integer measure ranges in the half-closed interval [0, infinity) 4. Overall auditor opinion of municipal handling of FISM transfers. The integer measure rages in the closed interval [0,4] 5. Auditor diagnostic, a 2 X 11 contingency table counting how federal and state auditors classify observations into 11 diagnostic categories. 6. Subjects' expectations about future political appointments. A binary outcome. 7. Subjects' expectations about future career prospects. The integer measure ranges in the half-closed interval [3,15] 8. Subjects' rank ordering of Superior Federal Auditor as principal. The integer measure ranges in the half-closed interval [1,3] 9. Log yearly change in budgeted gubernatorial FISM transfers, namely the change in the natural log of budgeted FISM transfers for municipality j, in states, between calendar years 2011 and 2012.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Simple average of the municipal rankings in terms of (i) number of observations made by auditors during a municipal audit and (ii) amount of refunds to the federal treasury requested. 2. Average municipal observation score measuring the average severity of audit findings. The integer measure ranges in the half-closed interval [0, infinity) 4. Overall auditor opinion of municipal handling of FISM transfers. The integer measure rages in the closed interval [0,4] 5. Auditor diagnostic, a 2 X 11 contingency table counting how federal and state auditors classify observations into 11 diagnostic categories. 6. Subjects' expectations about future political appointments. A binary outcome. 7. Subjects' expectations about future career prospects. The integer measure ranges in the half-closed interval [3,15] 8. Subjects' rank ordering of Superior Federal Auditor as principal. The integer measure ranges in the half-closed interval [1,3] 9. Log yearly change in budgeted gubernatorial FISM transfers, namely the change in the natural log of budgeted FISM transfers for municipality j, in states, between calendar years 2011 and 2012.

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Countries

Mexico, United States of America

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Mar 19, 2026