Auditoría de Gestión Municipal en Guaranda: análisis de Transparencia Fiscal y Construcción de Indicadores en el periodo 2023-2024

Abstract

Municipal fiscal transparency constitutes a fundamental mechanism for effective exercise of social control and prevention of irregularities in public resource management. This study evaluated compliance with fiscal transparency regulations and analyzed budget information quality of the Financial and Administrative Directorate of the Decentralized Autonomous Municipal Government of Guaranda, which manages 12 million dollars with 25 officials. A convergent mixed design was applied during 2023-2024, integrating exhaustive documentary analysis of published information, review of State Comptroller General audit reports, semi structured interviews with 22 key informants and validation focus group. Findings revealed partial compliance of 68% in obligations of the Organic Law on Transparency and Accessto Public Information, systematic delays averaging 45 days in quarterly report publication, deficiencies in institutional web accessibility and technological limitations of financial information systems. Twenty-three audit findings were identified with economic impact of $487,000, concentrated in public procurement regulatory breaches and operational inefficiencies. Correlational analysis evidenced statistically significant association (ρ=-0.73, p=0.027) between fiscal transparency level and quantity of audit findings, confirming that greater transparency correlates with lower incidence of irregularities. Fifteen contextualized indicators of financial management and governmental accountability were constructed through participatory validation, identifying critical gaps in information timeliness, tax collection efficiency and follow-up to audit recommendations.