The well-worn path between Auditor-General and Parliament

The work of the Auditor-General's office features often in this week's select committee hearings at Parliament, and for good reason.

Among the list of submitters and subjects for this week's select committee hearings at Parliament, the Auditor-General's office features often.

The Auditor-General is one of the three Officers of Parliament, entities who have a particular job to hold the government to account. As this week's committee action shows, the Auditor-General has a busy working relationship with Parliament that is set to deepen with the new provisions for extra scrutiny of government that stem from the last Parliament's Standing Orders review.

The Auditor-General's work provides Parliament with an independent view of how public organisations are operating. And there are a lot of them to keep an eye on: every single public service entity.

Watchdog

"There are about four-thousand, and a good two and a half of those are schools. So that's a very wide range, says Mark Evans, the Auditor-General's Director Sector Engagement, Parliamentary Group.

"From small entities like schools and cemetery boards to the very large departments like MBIE and MPI and other large crown entities."

What the Auditor-General's office looks at is not simply the financial information.

"So the financial statements, assurance that money is being spent as it should be, but also what's being achieved with that money. So how do we know if it's being spent as it was supposed to, but also what's the result."

In order to gauge the effectiveness of public organisations, the Auditor-General's office has many inquiries and reports on the go at any one time. Often these reports are considered by MPs in relevant select committees, or the Auditor-General's staff come to Parliament to discuss their findings with the committees.

For example, this week, the Finance and Expenditure Committee has been considering an Auditor-General's report titled 'Making infrastructure investment decisions quickly'; the Governance and Administration committee digested the Auditor-General's 'Insights into local government 2021' report as well as its report into the Auckland Council's preparedness for responding to an emergency; meanwhile the Economic Development, Science and Innovation committee is tomorrow due to hear from Auditor-General officers about their General Inquiry into Callaghan Innovation's procurement process.

Enhanced scrutiny…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details