Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom | |
---|---|
Incumbent Gareth Davies | |
National Audit Office | |
Reports to | Public Accounts Commission |
Seat | Westminster |
Appointer | The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
Formation | 1866 |
First holder | Sir William Dunbar |
The comptroller and auditor general (C&AG) in the United Kingdom is the government official responsible for supervising the quality of public accounting and financial reporting. The C&AG is an officer of the House of Commons who is the head of the National Audit Office, the body that scrutinises central government expenditure.
Under the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 the C&AG is appointed by the monarch by letters patent upon an address of the House of Commons presented by the Prime Minister with the agreement of the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. The C&AG can be removed from office, also by the monarch, only upon an address of both Houses of Parliament.
The full title of the office is Comptroller General of the Receipt and Issue of His Majesty's Exchequer and Auditor General of Public Accounts. [1]
The current C&AG is Gareth Davies (not the MP).
The office of C&AG was created by the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, which combined the functions of the Comptroller General of the Exchequer, who had authorised the issue of public moneys from the Treasury to other government departments, with those of the Commissioners of Audit, who had presented the government accounts to the Treasury). [2] Under the terms of the Act the C&AG continued to authorise the issue of money to departments, but was also given the new task of examining departmental accounts and reporting the results to Parliament. The role has since been replicated in many Commonwealth and foreign countries.
The Auditor General for Wales is the public official in charge of Audit Wales, the body responsible for auditing the Welsh Government and £20 billion of taxpayers' money each year. It is a statutory appointment made by His Majesty the King, in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 8 to the Government of Wales Act 2006.
The first Auditor General for Scotland was Robert Black, who was appointed in February 2000. The post had since been held by Caroline Gardner (July 2012 to July 2020) and Stephen Boyle. [3]
The Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland is the head of the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO), with responsibility for public audit in Northern Ireland. [4]
In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's current account in the Consolidated Fund. The term is used in various financial documents, including the latest departmental and agency annual accounts.
In many states with political systems derived from the Westminster system, a consolidated fund or consolidated revenue fund is the main bank account of the government. General taxation is taxation paid into the consolidated fund, and general spending is paid out of the consolidated fund.
The National Audit Office (NAO) is an independent Parliamentary body in the United Kingdom which is responsible for auditing central government departments, government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The NAO also carries out value for money (VFM) audits into the administration of public policy.
A comptroller is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executive who acts as the head of accounting, and oversees the preparation of financial reports, such as balance sheets and income statements.
The Committee of Public Accounts is a select committee of the British House of Commons. It is responsible for overseeing government expenditures, and to ensure they are effective and honest. The committee is seen as a crucial mechanism for ensuring transparency and accountability in government financial operations, having been described by Professor the Lord Hennessy as "the queen of the select committees...[which] by its very existence exert[s] a cleansing effect in all government departments".
Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) is a group 'A' central civil service under the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the supreme audit institution of India. Its central civil servants serve in an audit managerial capacity in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD), and are responsible for auditing the accounts of the Union government and state governments, as well as their public commercial enterprises and non-commercial autonomous bodies. The service's role is analogous to the US Government Accountability Office and the UK National Audit Office.
An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations.
The Scottish Exchequer had a similar role of auditing and deciding on royal revenues as in England. It was not until 1584 that it also became a court of law, separate from the King's Privy Council. Even then, the judicial and administrative roles never became completely separated into two bodies, as with the English Exchequer. The Auditor of the Exchequer played a pivotal role in this important office of state.
The auditor general for Scotland (AGS) is the public official in charge of the Audit Scotland, the body responsible for auditing most of Scotland's public bodies, except local authorities. The auditor general oversees the scrutiny of how public money is spent by the directorates of the Scottish Government, government agencies, NHS Scotland, further education colleges and most Non Departmental Public Bodies. The current auditor general is Stephen Boyle.
Sir John Bryant Bourn was a British auditor who was the Comptroller and Auditor General and therefore a head of the National Audit Office.
The Office of the Auditor General Manitoba—known as the Audit Office (1876–1916), Office of the Comptroller-General (1916–69), and Office of the Provincial Auditor (1969–2001)—is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba whose stated purpose is to assist Members of the Legislative Assembly with matters such as accountability and the performance of government.
The Auditor General for Wales is the public official in charge of the Audit Wales, formerly known as the Welsh Audit Office, the body responsible for auditing the Welsh Government, its public bodies, National Health Service bodies and local government in Wales. The Auditor General for Wales is responsible for auditing £20 billion of taxpayers' money each year.
Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) is the annual publication by the United Kingdom Government of the consolidated financial statements of over 5,500 organisations across the public sector. It aims to provide more complete data for fiscal planning by producing consolidated financial statements which are produced in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the system of accounts used internationally by the private sector.
The Comptroller General of the Exchequer was a position in the Exchequer of HM Treasury between 1834 and 1866. The Comptroller General had responsibility for authorising the issue of public monies from the Treasury to government departments.
The Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866 is the UK Act of Parliament under which most of the revenue from taxation, and all other money payable to the Exchequer, must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) is the constitutional officer responsible for public audit in Ireland. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is the public audit body for the Republic of Ireland and is headed by the C&AG.
The Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland (C&AG) is the public official in charge of the Northern Ireland Audit Office, the body responsible for auditing most of Northern Ireland's public bodies. The current auditor general is Dorinnia Carville.
The Commissioners of Audit had responsibility from 1785 to 1866 for the auditing of public accounts in the United Kingdom.
The auditor-general of Ghana is the head of the Ghana Audit Service, a legislative branch agency re-established by the government of Ghana in 1992 through the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. It was established as part of the Audit Service through Article 188 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana as part of the Public Services of Ghana. The auditor-general through the Audit service undertakes audits of the public accounts of Ghana and all public offices as mandated by Article 187 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
The Northern Ireland Audit Office is an independent public body which was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 18 March 1987. It has overall responsibility for auditing on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland, across all sectors of government in Northern Ireland, except those reserved to the UK government.