This work consists on a study about the responsiveness of the actions of the Audit Court of the State of Pernambuco in a historical moment characterised by the need of public institutions to fulfil the citizens' needs. The main objective is to analyse the characteristics of both formal and desired responsiveness, besides the relationships among responsiveness, the institutional environment and the power structures within the Audit Court of Pernambuco. This research holds a qualitative nature and its data were collected by means of open-ended interviews, made inside the Audit Court of Pernambuco ambit, as much as in civil society agencies which interacts with it. The results show that there is, in fact, a "desired responsiveness" and that there are gaps between it and the formal responsiveness. Such gaps can be explained by the characteristics of the institutional environment and the power structures in place, which confirms the research's hypothesis.