The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is the supreme audit institution of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, functioning as the national

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and au ...

for the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

and

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...

. It reports directly to the Australian Parliament via the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

. Administratively, the ANAO is located in the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio. The current Auditor-General of Australia is Grant Hehir, who was appointed in June 2015 for a 10-year term.

Role

The Australian National Audit Office is a specialist public sector agency that supports the Auditor-General of Australia, who is an independent officer of the Parliament of Australia. The main functions and powers of the Auditor-General under the include auditing financial statements of Commonwealth agencies, authorities, companies and their subsidiaries in accordance with the and conducting performance audits which are tabled in Parliament. The Auditor-General may report its findings directly to Parliament or to a Minister, on any important matter. In addition, the ANAO plays a leadership role in improving public administration and audit capability in Australia and overseas by publishing information such as better practice guides and deploying experienced staff to audit institutions in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Auditor-General

The Auditor-General is appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister, for a term of ten years. The current Auditor-General is Grant Hehir, who was appointed on 11 June 2015. Below is a full list of Commonwealth Auditors-General dating from 1902.

History

The ''Audit Act 1901'' was the fourth piece of legislation passed by the Parliament. The Audit Act provided a legislative basis for the financial management of Commonwealth finances and the audit of related accounts, it also provided a legal foundation for the appointment of an Auditor-General. The first Auditor-General, John William Israel, began establishing the Federal Audit Office in 1902 in Melbourne. The office moved to Canberra in 1935, in line with Government policy at that time. The ''Audit Act 1901'' was amended in 1979 to allow the Audit Office to undertake performance audits ("efficiency reviews"). Efficiency reviews, or

performance audit Performance audit refers to an independent examination of a program, function, operation or the management systems and procedures of a governmental or non-profit entity to assess whether the entity is achieving economy, efficiency and effectivenes ...

, concerns the efficiency and effectiveness of a particular government activity. The ''Audit Act 1901'' was replaced with the ''Auditor-General Act 1997'', which came into effect on 1 January 1998. The main features of the new act included: * provisions that strengthened the independence of the Auditor-General and the Australian National Audit Office; * the strengthening of the Auditor-General's role as an external auditor of Commonwealth agencies, authorities, companies and their subsidiaries, including a comprehensive mandate to conduct, with some limited exceptions, financial statement and performance audits of all government entities; and * clarification of the Auditor-General's mandate and powers. In 1986 the ANAO hosted XII INCOSAI, the twelfth triennial convention of the

International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) is an intergovernmental organization whose members are supreme audit institutions. Nearly every supreme audit institution in the world is a member of INTOSAI. Depending on t ...

. The Australian National Audit Office also reviews Commonwealth Government agencies pursuant to the for the proper use and management of public money, public property and other Commonwealth resources; the that provides reporting, accountability and other rules for Commonwealth authorities and Commonwealth companies; and the for general corporate law.

References

External links

Australian National Audit Office

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{{Authority control Auditing organizations Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Government audit Parliament of Australia Supreme audit institutions