The Office of the Auditor General of Norway ( no, Riksrevisjonen) is the state

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 ...

of the

Government of Norway The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power i ...

and directly subordinate of the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

. It is responsible for

auditing An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

, monitoring and advising all state economic activities, including

financial audit A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether "financial statements" (the information is verified to the extent of reasonable assurance granted) are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are internat ...

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 ...

s and corporate control. Located in Oslo, it is led by a

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

of five auditors general elected for four years and from 2014 it has been led by

Per-Kristian Foss Per-Kristian Foss (born 19 July 1950 in Oslo) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party and from 2014 to 2021 the Auditor General of Norway. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1981, and was re-elected on six occ ...

. It is regulated by the ''Auditor General Act of June 1, 2005''. The office has about 460 employees, mostly recruited among

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

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 ...

s and

social scientist Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of socie ...

History

The office dates back to 1814 when the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

§75 stated that there were to be appointed five auditors by the Parliament of Norway with the first auditors being appointed in 1816. In 1822 the Ministry of Auditing (''Revisjonsdepartementet'') was created as a supplement to the office that originally bore the name ''Statsrevisjonen'' (lit. ''the State Auditing''). When the current

Parliament of Norway Building The Storting building ( no, Stortingsbygningen) is the seat of the Storting, the parliament of Norway. The building is located at 22 Karl Johans gate in central Oslo, Norway. It was taken into use on 5 March 1866 and was designed by the Swedish ...

opened in 1866 the office followed along and stayed in the building until 1890. In 1918 the system is changed and all state auditing is taken over by the office, removing the ministry. In 1938, with 64 against 63 votes, the Parliament of Norway changed the office's name to the current ''Riksrevisjonen'' (lit. ''the National Auditing''). In 1962 the auditing of the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach se ...

, Telegrafverket and the

Postal Service The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

were included in the office.

Auditor Generals

The Auditor General is the head of the Office. *1816–1821 : Marcus S. Lyng *1821–1827 :

Frederik Motzfeldt Frederik Motzfeldt (2 November 1779 – 2 January 1848) was a Norwegian politician. He was a member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. Motzfeldt was born at Skaun in Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. He was raised in Trondhjem ...

*1827–1834 :

Lauritz Nicolai Kraft Lauritz is a typically masculine given name, a Scandinavian form of the English Laurence or Lawrence. Another Danish and Estonian form is Laurits. Popularity in Scandinavia The name has been decreasing in popularity in all Scandinavian countr ...

*1827–1845 : Peter L. Stabel *1834–1846 :

Søren Anton Wilhelm Sørenssen Søren Anton Wilhelm Sørenssen (22 August 1793 – 28 June 1853) was a Norwegian jurist and politician. Sørenssen was born at Drammen in Buskerud, Norway. He was a supreme court lawyer in Oslo from 1822 to 1839. He led the impeachment cases aga ...

*1848–1854 : Johan D. Rye *1854–1881 : Peter Daniel B. W. Kildal *1882–1883 :

Peder Krabbe Gaarder Peder Krabbe Gaarder (23 April 1814 – 5 August 1883) was a Norwegian jurist and political theorist. He was born at Alstahaug in Nordland, Norway. He studied law at the University of Christiania (now University of Oslo), graduating in 1838. He wa ...

*1883–1898 :

Hagbard Berner Hagbart (or Hagbard) Emanuel Berner (12 September 1839 – 24 January 1920) was a Norwegian lawyer, Liberal Party politician and newspaper editor. He was one of Norway's leading liberal progressives of his time. He represented the Liberal Party a ...

*1898–1923 :

Svend Borchmann Hersleb Vogt Svend Vogt. Svend Borchmann Hersleb Vogt (10 February 1852 – 4 February 1923) was a Norwegian jurist and politician for the Conservative Party. He was born in Kristiania as the son of Nils Lorentz Vogt and his wife Karen Johanne Holmboe.

*1923–1925 :

Tore Embretsen Aaen Tore is a Scandinavian masculine name. It is derived from the Old Norsemen, Norse name ''Thórir'', which is composed of ''thorr'' which means thunder, and ''arr'' which means warrior. So Thunder Warrior or Thor's Warrior. The most famous person by ...

*1926–1949 : Hans T. H. Lütken *1949–1950 :

Saamund Olsen Bergland Saamund Olsen Bergland (24 May 1881 – ?) was a Norwegian state auditor and politician. He was born in Fyresdal to Ole Torkelsen Vatnedal and Anne Saamundsdatter Nedrebø. He was elected representative to the Storting for the period 1931– ...

*1950–1978 :

Lars Breie Lars Breie (3 April 1907 – 5 October 1999) was a Norwegian jurist, auditor and politician for the Labour Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Buskerud in 1945, and was re-elected on one occasion. Born in Ål, he was and ...

*1978–1980 : Tor Oftedal *1981–1990 :

Petter Furberg Petter Furberg (15 December 1923 in Sande – 22 June 1999) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Vestfold in 1969, and was re-elected on two occasions. On the local level he was a ...

*1990–2005 :

Bjarne Mørk Eidem Bjarne Mørk Eidem (4 October 1936 – 2 October 2022) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was chairman of the Norwegian Aquaculture Center in Brønnøy. Biography Bjarne Mørk Eidem was a member of the Norwegian Parliament fr ...

*2005–2013 : Jørgen Kosmo *2014–2021:

*2022–Present: Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen

External links

References

{{authority control

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Government agencies of Norway Government agencies established in 1816 Storting Supreme audit institutions 1816 establishments in Norway