Australian National Audit Office
 | |
 ANAO located in the Centenary House building in Barton, Australian Capital Territory. | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1901 |
| Jurisdiction |
 Australia |
| Employees | 348 (estimate for 2013–14)[1] |
| Annual budget | A$77.651 million (2012) |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |
| Website |
www |
| Footnotes | |
| [2] | |
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is the national auditor for the Parliament of Australia and Government of Australia. It reports directly to the Australian Parliament via the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate. Administratively, the ANAO is located in the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio.
The current Auditor-General of Australia is Grant Hehir.
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 Auditor-General Act 1997 (Cth) include auditing financial statements of Commonwealth agencies, authorities, companies and their subsidiaries in accordance with the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (Cth) 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.[2]
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 and Papua New Guinea.[2]
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.[3]
| Name | Dates |
|---|---|
| John William Israel ISO | 1902 – 1926 |
| Charles Cerutty CMG | 1926 – 1935 |
| Herbert Charles Brown CBE | 1935 – 1938 |
| Ralph Abercrombie OBE | 1938 – 1946 |
| Albert Charles Joyce CBE | 1946 – 1951 |
| James Brophy ISO | 1951 – 1955 |
| Harold Clive Newman CBE | 1955 – 1961 |
| Victor John William Skermer CBE | 1961 – 1973 |
| Duncan Robert Steele Craik OBE CB | 1973 – 1981 |
| Keith Frederick Brigden AO | 1981 – 1985 |
| John Vincent Monaghan AO | 1985 – 1987 |
| John Casey Taylor AO | 1988 – 1995 |
| Patrick Joseph Barrett AO | 1995 – 2005 |
| Ian McPhee AO, PSM | 2005 – 2015 |
| Grant Hehir | 2015 – present |
History
The Audit Act 1901 (Cth) 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.[4] The first Auditor-General, John William Israel,[5] began establishing the Federal Audit Office in 1902 in Melbourne.[6] 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").[7] Efficiency reviews, or performance audit, concerns the efficiency and effectiveness of a particular government activity.
The Audit Act 1901 was replaced with the Auditor-General Act 1997 (Cth), 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.[8]
In 1986 the ANAO hosted XII INCOSAI, the twelfth triennial convention of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.
The Australian National Audit Office also reviews Commonwealth Government agencies pursuant to the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (Cth) for the proper use and management of public money, public property and other Commonwealth resources; the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (Cth) that provides reporting, accountability and other rules for Commonwealth authorities and Commonwealth companies; and the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) for general corporate law.
References
- ↑ Australian Government. "Budget Paper No. 1". 2013-14 Commonwealth Budget. Statement 6: Expenses and Net Capital Investment: Australian Government. Archived from the original on 24 September 2013.
- 1 2 3 "The Auditor-General Annual Report 2011−2012" (PDF). Australian National Audit Office. Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 0-642-81266-7. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
- ↑ History of the ANAO, Australian National Audit Office, 2014, archived from the original on 28 March 2014
- ↑ "Report 419: Inquiry into the Auditor-General Act 1997" (PDF). Canberra: Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit. 2010. p. 1.
- ↑ "History of the ANAO". Canberra: Australian National Audit Office. 2011. p. 1.
- ↑ Wanna, John; Ryan, Christine (2003). "A Reactive Administrative Culture? The Legacy of Australia's first Auditor-General on the Australian Audit Office" (PDF). Canberra: Australian Journal of Politics and History. p. 5.
- ↑ McPhee, Ian (14 October 2011), Senate Occasional Lecture: The Evolving Role and Mandate of the ANAO Since Federation (PDF), p. 6, archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2014
- ↑ "Report 386: Review of the Auditor-General Act 1997" (PDF). Canberra: Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit. 2001. p. 3.