The Treasury must agree to all expenditure. Departments are accountable for the use to which they put the resources they are allocated. The most senior permanent official in a Department is designated an Accounting Officer and is accountable to a committee of Parliament which investigates the propriety, regularity and value for money of public expenditure. The Accounting Officer must establish a proper system of internal controls, including an internal audit function, to safeguard the public resources which have been made available to the Department. If you would like more information on the UK system of public expenditure control, click here .
Auditors have a key role to play in accounting for public spending.
The quality and effectiveness of internal audit, as well as ensuring compliance with GIAM standards is the responsibility of the individual government department. The Treasury is responsible for ensuring that internal audit standards remain in line with acceptable UK and international auditing standards, and that these are generally complied with by government internal auditors. The prime objective of Internal Audit in UK government departments is to provide the Accounting Officer with assurance on the organisations internal control systems. In all cases, the Head of Internal Audit has the right of direct access to the Accounting Officer. Relationships with External Audit in the UK Management and staff at all levels must have complete confidence in the integrity, independence and capability of internal audit.