The Commission on Audit (COA; fil, Komisyon ng Pagsusuri) is an independent constitutional commission established by the

Constitution of the Philippines The Constitution of the Philippines (Filipino: ''Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas'' or ''Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas'', Spanish: ''Constitución de la República de Filipinas'') is the constitution or the supreme law of the Republic of the Philippines ...

. It has the primary function to examine, audit and settle all accounts and expenditures of the funds and properties of the

Philippine government The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and d ...

. The Commission on Audit is a creation of the 1987 constitution. It was preceded by the Office of the Auditor in 1899, renamed as the Bureau of the Insular Auditor in 1900, then to the Bureau of Audits in 1905. The 1935 constitution created the General Auditing Office (GAO), and was led by the Auditor General. The 1973 constitution renamed the GAO to the Commission on Audit, a collegial body led by a chairman, with two commissioners. That setup was retained by the 1987 constitution. The other two Constitutional Commissions are the

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

and

Civil Service Commission A civil service commission is a government agency that is constituted by legislature to regulate the employment and working conditions of civil servants, oversee hiring and promotions, and promote the values of the public service. Its role is rou ...

Members

Description

The Commission on Audit is composed of a Chairperson and two Commissioners. They must be

natural-born citizen A natural-born-citizen clause, if present in the constitution of a country, requires that its president or vice president be a natural born citizen. The constitutions of a number of countries contain such a clause, but there is no universally ac ...

s of at least thirty-five years of age, and must be either a

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

or a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. The members of the commission are appointed by the

President of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...

, with the consent of the Commission of Appointments, for a term of seven years without reappointment. In ''Funa v. Villar'', the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruled that a Commissioner can only be appointed as Chairman if the unexpired term for the office of chairman and the term that the Commissioner had already served does not exceed seven years. In such case, the Commissioner promoted as Chairman would serve the unexpired term of the chairman, forfeiting the duration of his original term as Commissioner. This was based on a case where Reynaldo A. Villar, who was appointed commissioner in 2004, was then appointed as chairman in 2008, making him serve out eleven years in total. Villar resigned before he served out the full seven-year term as chairman, but prior to the resolution of the case. The 1987 Constitution staggered the terms of the members of the Constitutional Commissions. Of the first appointees, the Chairman would serve seven years (1st line), a Commissioner would serve five years (2nd line), and another Commissioner would serve three years (3rd line). Each seven-year term is denoted by alternating black and gray bars in the table below. The members of the commission can only be removed from office via death, resignation or impeachment.

Current composition

Former auditor generals

Former members of the Commission on Audit

References

External links

The Official Website of the Commission on Audit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commission On Audit Audir

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Supreme audit institutions