Public benefit agencies occupy a critical institutional position in advancing social equity, yet the quality assurance audit systems designed to hold these agencies accountable have demonstrated a persistent and consequential limitation: audit findings routinely fail to translate into measurable improvements in fairness, access, and service equity for marginalized populations. This study proposes and empirically tests the Audit-to-Equity Translation Index (AETI), a composite measurement framework designed to systematically evaluate the degree to which quality assurance audit findings are converted into policy reforms and social equity outcomes within public benefit institutions.Employing a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, the study combines systematic quantitative scoring of AETI indicators across 214 audit-cycle document sets with in-depth qualitative case analysis of eight purposively selected public benefit agencies spanning Medicaid managed care, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program quality control, public housing authority oversight, and county-level social services administration. The AETI operationalizes four measurement domains—Recommendation Specificity, Institutional Responsiveness, Implementation Fidelity, and Equity Outcome Measurement—aggregated into a composite index scored on a standardized 0–100 scale.Findings reveal substantial variation in audit-to-equity translation effectiveness across agencies, with composite AETI scores ranging from 31.2 to 79.9 among study participants. Composite AETI scores demonstrate a statistically significant positive association with equity outcomes for marginalized service populations (β = 0.68, p < .001), while cross-agency analysis identifies a mean deficit of 43.1 points in the Equity Outcome Measurement domain—representing the most pronounced and systemic gap in the translation pathway. Comparative case analysis identifies leadership architecture, disaggregated data infrastructure, recommendation specificity, community accountability mechanisms, and resource-explicit implementation planning as the primary organizational determinants of translation effectiveness.The AETI provides policymakers, agency administrators, oversight bodies, and equity advocates with a theoretically grounded, empirically validated, and institutionally replicable framework for transforming quality assurance audit systems from diagnostic instruments into active drivers of social equity accountability. Its adoption across diverse public benefit program contexts offers a tractable pathway toward closing the persistent gap between audit excellence and equity realization in public administration.
Keywords: Audit-to-Equity Translation Index (AETI), compliance and performance auditing., distributive justice, equity outcome measurement, institutional accountability, mixed-methods public policy research, organizational learning and change, public benefit agencies, quality assurance auditing, social equity in public administration
