The aim of this publication is to show students and practising internal and external auditors how economy, efficiency and effectiveness apply to performance auditing. It is difficult to explain the complexities of performance auditing to newcomers in the field in a way that makes sense the first time round. There is little practical, step-by-step guidance on the topic available in South Africa at present. This is an odd situation, especially when one considers that the revised estimate for government expenditure for the 2003/2004 financial year was R331 685 billion and the estimate for the 2004/2005 financial year is R368 904 billion. Performance auditing can play a vital role in ensuring that taxpayers' money is well spent when it comes to the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. One reason for the lack of published practical guidance on the topic is that no two audits are identical, so it is difficult to set out rules that can be applied again and again. Each performance audit will have a different focus area, and each focus area will require different criteria to be tested. For this reason, the publication emphasises those elements that are relevant to all performance audits and that can be applied easily and successfully. The guidance given here takes the form of a step-by-step approach to performance auditing and is intended to empower new performance auditors and team leaders alike.