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The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal auditors’ (IAs) roles have changed because of the diffusion of neoliberal ideologies in the Ukrainian public sector.

A qualitative methodological approach was applied. Data were collected from 29 semi-structured interviews with public sector auditors in Ukraine’s central government; secondary data analysis was also performed.

IAs’ role in Ukraine’s central government has changed significantly, with reforms attempting to move to performance auditing. Consequently, Ukrainian central government IAs appeared in the multi-expectation situation, due to the division of the role senders into two different areas. On one hand, IAs are expected to perform new roles set by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, while their traditional role as “watchdogs” is still expected by managers (heads of institutions). Diverging expectations resulted in the role conflict that impedes the change in IAs’ role and performance auditing introduction in the Ukrainian central government. Moreover, we identify factors that motivate IAs to prioritise managers’ expectations, while trying to cope with the existing role conflict in Ukraine’s central government.

This study makes a threefold contribution by enriching the understanding of auditors’ roles, role conflicts that public sector auditors may experience and factors that influence how auditors cope with such conflicts, through the lenses of role theory; exploring the change in roles with the emergence of performance auditing; and shedding light on public sector auditing in the less explored context of a post-Soviet country.