Australian National Audit Office

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is the supreme audit institution of Australia, functioning as 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.

Australian National Audit Office

ANAO located in the Centenary House building in Barton, Australian Capital Territory.
Agency overview
Formed1901
Jurisdiction Australia
Employees348 (estimate for 2013–14)[1]
Annual budgetA$77.651 million (2012)
Agency executive
  • Grant Hehir,
    Auditor-General
Parent agencyDepartment of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Websitewww.anao.gov.au
Footnotes
[2]

The current Auditor-General of Australia is Grant Hehir, who was appointed in June 2015 for a 10-year term.

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]

NameDates
John William Israel ISO1902 – 1926
Charles Cerutty CMG1926 – 1935
Herbert Charles Brown CBE1935 – 1938
Ralph Abercrombie OBE1938 – 1946
Albert Charles Joyce CBE1946 – 1951
James Brophy ISO1951 – 1955
Harold Clive Newman CBE1955 – 1961
Victor John William Skermer CBE1961 – 1973
Duncan Robert Steele Craik CB OBE1973 – 1981
Keith Frederick Brigden AO1981 – 1985
John Vincent Monaghan AO1985 – 1987
John Casey Taylor AO1988 – 1995
Patrick Joseph Barrett AO1995 – 2005
Ian McPhee AO PSM2005 – 2015
Grant Hehir[4]2015 – 2025

History

The Audit Act 1901[5] 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.[6] The first Auditor-General, John William Israel,[7] began establishing the Federal Audit Office in 1902 in Melbourne.[8] 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").[9] 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,[10] 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.[11]

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
  1. Australian Government. "Budget Paper No. 1: Statement 6: Expenses and Net Capital Investment". 2013-14 Commonwealth Budget. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 24 September 2013.
  2. The Auditor-General Annual Report 2011−2012 (PDF). 2012. ISBN 978-0-642-81266-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. History of the ANAO, Australian National Audit Office, 2014, archived from the original on 28 March 2014
  4. "The Auditor-General". Parliament of Australia. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  5. Audit Act 1901 (Cth)
  6. "Report 419: Inquiry into the Auditor-General Act 1997" (PDF). Canberra: Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit. 2010. p. 1.
  7. "History of the ANAO". Canberra: Australian National Audit Office. 2011. p. 1. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  8. 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.
  9. 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
  10. Auditor-General Act 1997 (Cth)
  11. "Report 386: Review of the Auditor-General Act 1997" (PDF). Canberra: Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit. 2001. p. 3.
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