Controls in Private and Public Entities: A Comparison of Models

Internal and external controls on legal persons are longstanding research topics, for both public law and private law jurists. The former tackle the issue in terms of public administration, while the latter remain in the fields of company law and corporate governance. This article seeks to bridge the divide between the two approaches to the question, by providing a legal comparison between the two types of controls adopted either in pubic or in private entities. After clarifying the methodology, the article addresses the issue by following three strands shared by both models: the first embraces the compliance function; the second deals with audit; and the last focuses on management controls. The objective is to ascertain whether the differences between public and private entities still exist and whether it is possible to provide a new categorization in the field of internal and external controls.