The book provides a history of the origins and development of the institutions and practices of British public sector audit, which are meant to ensure the financial accountability of the Executive to Parliament. From the eleventh century, better accountability often depended on a combination of opportunism and determination against a background of wider developments in constitutional and political manoeuvring. Until the nineteenth century there was a persistent determination by the ruling monarch to resist greater financial accountability to Parliament. Thus, a primary concern is the political ... More

The book provides a history of the origins and development of the institutions and practices of British public sector audit, which are meant to ensure the financial accountability of the Executive to Parliament. From the eleventh century, better accountability often depended on a combination of opportunism and determination against a background of wider developments in constitutional and political manoeuvring. Until the nineteenth century there was a persistent determination by the ruling monarch to resist greater financial accountability to Parliament. Thus, a primary concern is the political forces that drove improvement but also that often sought to deny Parliament the ability to ensure the financial and, hence, constitutional accountability of the Executive. An especially important contribution of the book is the prominence given to the current mandate and challenges faced by the National Audit Office, especially the major challenges to the constitutional authority of the Comptroller and Auditor General in the modern public sector environment. The book has been written to coincide with the 150th anniversary in 2016 of the passage of the 1866 Audit Act, which is the basis of modern central government audit in Britain and other Westminster democracies. The importance of this event and of the expected contributions of the book have been recognized by the present Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir Amyas Morse, who has provided the Foreword to the book.