FINANCIAL AUDIT IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITALIZATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

This article examines the transformation of financial and state audit in the Republic of Kazakhstan under the digitalization of public administration. The purpose of the study is to assess how digital technologies are changing public financial control, to analyze verified results of electronic audit and risk-oriented preventive control, and to formulate evidence-based directions for further development. The study uses legal analysis, comparative analysis, synthesis of official administrative data, and recalculation of selected indicators. Official data of the Ministry of Finance and the Internal State Audit Committee show that remote audit, online budget monitoring, data analytics and risk-oriented tools are increasingly embedded in public audit practice. In 2025, 1,359 audit activities identified KZT 462.4 billion in financial violations, of which KZT 418.4 billion was restored or reimbursed to the budget. In the first half of 2026, the volume of budget funds covered by preventive measures without conducting an audit increased from KZT 200 billion to KZT 500 billion compared with the corresponding period of 2025. At the same time, the effectiveness of digital audit depends on data quality, interoperability of public information systems, algorithmic explainability, cybersecurity and auditors’ digital competencies. The article proposes a gradual transition from ex post control toward continuous, risk-based and preventive digital audit while preserving professional human judgment.