I recall seeing a set of standards that had been developed in 1990 or 1991 by
an organization called (I think) The Audit Council for England and Wales on
managing "local authority" museums. It addressed virtually every major area of
museum work.  As well, 42 pages are devoted to standards for conservation in
the "Standard Practices Handbook for Museums" published by the Alberta Museums
Association.

As a former auditor, I can say that having performance standards provides an
excellent (indispensable?) basis for planning and conducting the audit. Audit
guides, published by a number of organizations, simply take performance
standards and decide what particular audit tests and procedures, sample sizes,
etc., will be required to assess compliance with the standards. The problem
comes when you have to audit a funxtion that does NOT have these, such as
museum "management" or where you get into "comprehensive" (value for money)
auditing.

Harry Needham
Canadian War Museum