Contracting-Out Audits

The Auditor-General and the staff of the ANAO play an important role in the process of public accountability by providing the Parliament, the Executive and Management with an independent assessment of the operations of public sector organisations. The ANAO’s Executive and staff are located in Canberra.

The ANAO provides its principal client, the Parliament, with approximately 50 published audit reports annually. These reports include performance audits and financial statement audits. The ANAO also has a close working relationship with the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) which reviews the audit reports on a quarterly basis.

The key outcome for each financial statement audit is to provide independent assurance on the financial statements adopted by those Agencies mentioned in Clause 1.1.1. The achievement of this outcome requires the meeting of the Auditor-General’s and the clients’ needs (in particular each entity, the Minister, and Parliament) through the delivery of quality products (in particular, the opinion on the financial statements, the report to Ministers and Parliament) on time, within budget and at a contestable price.