Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit
Duties of the Committee
The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit is a statutory committee
of the Australian Parliament, established by the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act 1951 (PDF45k).
Section 8(1) of the Act describes the Committee's duties
as being to:
(a) examine the accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the
Commonwealth including the financial statements given to
the Auditor-General under sub-sections 49(1) of section 55(2) of the
Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997;
(b) examine the financial affairs of authorities of the Commonwealth
to which the Act applies and of intergovernmental bodies to which
this Act applies;
(c) examine all reports of the Auditor-General (including reports
of the results of performance audits) that are tabled in each House of the Parliament;
(d) report to both Houses of the Parliament, with such comment
as it thinks fit, on any items or matters in those accounts, statements
and reports, or any circumstances connected with them, that
the Committee thinks should be drawn to the attention of the Parliament;
(e) report to both Houses of the Parliament any alteration which
the Committee thinks desirable in:
(i) the form of the public accounts or in the method of keeping them; or
(ii) the mode of receipt, control, issue or payment of public moneys;
(f) inquire into any question connected with the public accounts
which is referred to the Committee by either House of the Parliament, and
to report to that House upon that question;
(g) consider:
(i) the operations of the Audit Office;
(ii) the resources of the Audit Office, including funding, staff and information technology; and
(iii) reports of the Independence Auditor on operations of the Audit Office;
(h) report to both Houses of the Parliament on any matter arising out of the Committee's consideration of the matters listed in paragraph (g), or on any other matter relating to the Auditor-General's functions and powers, that the Committee considers should be drawn to the attention of the Parliament;
(i) report to both Houses of the Parliament on the performance of the Audit Office at any time;
(j) consider draft estimates for the Audit Office submitted under section 53 of the Auditor-General Act 1997;
(k) consider the level of fees determined by the Auditor-General under subsection 14(1) of the Auditor-General Act 1997;
(l) make recommendations to both Houses of Parliament, and to the Minister who administers the Auditor-General Act 1997, on draft estimates referred to in paragraph (j);
(m) determine the audit priorities of the Parliament and to advise the Auditor-General of those priorities;
(n) determine the audit priorities of the Parliament for audits of the Audit Office and to advise the Independent Auditor of those priorities; and
(o) any other duties given to the Committee by this Act, by any other
law or by Joint Standing Orders approved by both Houses of the Parliament.