Audit Inflation

Definition

The pattern where governance effort increases while institutional trust and alignment decline. Audit volume is inversely correlated with decision surface quality—organisations drowning in oversight are rarely over-governed; they are under-architected.

Formula

Example

A compliance department that doubles in size over five years while failures continue recurring is experiencing audit inflation—post-hoc mechanisms expanding to compensate for missing ex-ante constraints.

Source

GDS Section 7