Swedish National Audit Office

The Swedish National Audit Office ( sv, Riksrevisionen) is the agency responsible for oversight of the state finances through financial and performance audits of state agencies, state-owned companies and the Government of Sweden. It serves directly under the Riksdag and is therefore independent of the Cabinet. All state agencies are required to submit copies of their annual accounts and reports to this office for review.

The mission of the Swedish National Audit Office is to examine the government's activities in order to contribute to the effective management of state administration. The agency is led by one Auditor General () who is appointed for a seven-year term without the possibility of re-appointment. The Auditor General decide independently on aspects of the state government to be audited, how to do its investigations. The independence of the office and the Auditor General is specified in Chapter 13 of the , which is part of the Constitution of Sweden. The current Auditor General for the period 2017–2024 is Helena Lindberg.

History

Auditing responsibilities in regards to the finances of the Swedish Government first began in 1530 when King Gustav Vasa set up the ''Räntekammaren'', soon to become the ''Kammarkollegiet'' ("the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency") under control of the Lord High Treasurer of Sweden. Under King John III, the annual Rikshufvudboken was published which contained a breakdown of all national finances of Sweden within that year. In 1680, King Charles XI moved all governmental auditing responsibilities from the Kammarkollegiet to a new government agency called the '' Statskontoret'' ( sv; "the Agency for Public Management"), which lasted until 1920 when the auditing portion of Statskontoret was transferred to a new agency called ''Riksräkenskapsverket'', under the control of the Swedish Ministry of Finance. In 1963, the Riksräkenskapsverket was renamed as the '' Riksrevisionsverket'' ( sv; "the national audit office").

Separately in 1867, the '' Riksdagens revisorer'' ( sv; "auditors of the Riksdag") was formed as an administrative authority of the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament) to audit and review all activities of the Riksdag.

On 15 December 2000, the Riksdag decided to merge both Riksrevisionsverket and Riksdagens revisorer into the present-day Riksrevisionen, which took effect on 1 July 2003. The final Auditor General of Riksrevisionsverket, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, was against said merger, as she claimed in several statements to the media that the merger would limit Riksrevisionen's ability to act independently from the government.

See also

* Office of the Auditor General of Norway (Riksrevisjonen) - the corresponding agency in Norway
* Rigsrevisionen - the corresponding agency in Denmark
* National Audit Office of Finland ( fi: Valtiontalouden tarkastusvirasto; sv: Statens revisionsverk) - the corresponding agency in Finland

References

* Sveriges Riksdag (translated by Ray Bradfield),
The Constitution of Sweden: The Fundamental Laws and the Riksdag Act
'' Sveriges Riksdag, Stockholm. 2012.

External links

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{{Authority control

Government of Sweden
Government audit
Government agencies established in 2003
2003 establishments in Sweden
Supreme audit institutions