The Auditor General is accountable to the Parliament for the performance of the OAG, both in terms of meeting its mandate and its use of resources. As an independent officer of the Parliament, the Auditor General, and by extension his Office, are not accountable to the Government, either in terms of the work they carry out or the resources they use to deliver their work.
The accountability to the Parliament is exercised through the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), to whom the Auditor General reports the outcomes of her audit work. Under the constitution the Auditor General is required to make at least two reports a year to the Parliament on her work, and under the PMFL she is required to make one general report a year on the outcomes from his audits.
The provisions for setting the budget of the OAG, and the submission of the OAG's annual report and audited financial statements, are clearly set out in sections 66 to 69 of the PMFL. The PAC, and not the Government, is responsible for:
However, in practice the Ministry of Finance rather than the PAC has set the budget and the appropriations for the OAG. This issue, along with the application of some of the provisions in the PMFL and the PSML, enable Government to constrain the financial and operational independence of the OAG, if it wishes, through the withholding of resources, reinforcing perceptions both within and outside Government that we are in fact a part of Government and not independent. Our strategic plan has as one of its strategic objectives the need to enhance the independence of the OAG to ensure its financial and operational independence from Government.
The Auditor General is required to submit the OAG's Annual Report, including the audited financial statements to the PAC by 30 April each year for their scrutiny. The OAG's financial statements are required to be audited by independent auditors appointed by PAC. The OAG's current auditors are Baker Tilley. The PAC subsequently table the OAG's Annual Report in the Parliament at which time it becomes a public document. The most recent Annual Report is available at the following link OAG Annual Report 31 December 2018