Explanatory Notes

Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011

2011 CHAPTER 4

22 March 2011

Commentary on Sections and Schedules

Schedule 3: Relationship between NAO and Comptroller and Auditor General

Paragraph 8: Audit fees etc

198.Paragraph 8(1) to (4) authorises the NAO to charge fees for audits carried out by the C&AG in accordance with a scheme prepared by the NAO and approved by the Commission. The agreement of a Minister of the Crown is required if the accounts to be audited are those of a body or other person who acts on behalf of the Crown. Sub-paragraph (5) provides that those arrangements do not apply to audits that are carried out as part of NAO-approved services. In such cases, the C&AG may charge fees and other amounts but only in accordance with the relevant agreement or arrangement. The fee powers in this paragraph may be used to recover the costs of providing the services in question but not to cross-subsidise other costs of the NAO or the C&AG.

199.Sub-paragraphs (6) and (7) require that fees and other amounts received by the C&AG must be paid to the NAO and that the NAO must pay them into the Consolidated Fund.