Abstract: Public data access is an important measure to enhance government governance capabilities and promote economic transformation and development. Taking the launch of public data open platforms in various cities as a natural experiment, this study empirically tests the impact and mechanism of public data openness on the performance of national audit functions. The findings reveal that open public data can promote the functioning of national auditing. The mechanism analysis shows that public data openness promotes the national audit function through the two paths: promoting the informationization construction of audit institutions and improving the digital technology application capabilities of auditors. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect of public data openness on the national audit function is more pronounced in the cities with high government financial transparency, developed media, and high levels of digital infrastructure construction. To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of public data open platforms, to use big data and other technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of audit work, to establish and improve the connection mechanism between audit data and government public data platforms, breaking down data barriers and eliminating audit blind spots.

Key words: public data access, state audit function, audit informatization