Government of Wales Act 2006

Audit of accounts

15 (1) The accounts which the Auditor General is required to prepare under paragraph 13 for a financial year must be submitted by the Auditor General (after having signed them) to the auditor appointed under paragraph 14 no later than five months after the end of that financial year.

(2) The auditor must carry out an audit of any accounts submitted to the auditor under sub-paragraph (1).

(3) On completing the audit the auditor must—

(a) certify the accounts, and

(b) lay the accounts and the auditor’s report on them before the Assembly.

(4) The auditor has a right of access at all reasonable times to every document which appears to the auditor to be necessary for the purposes of the audit of the accounts.

(5) The auditor may—

(a) require any person holding or accountable for any of those documents to provide any assistance, information or explanation which the auditor reasonably thinks necessary for those purposes, and

(b) require the Auditor General to provide the auditor, at times specified by the auditor, with accounts of such of the transactions of the Auditor General as the auditor may specify.

(6) The auditor—

(a) may carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Auditor General has used resources in discharging the Auditor General’s functions, and

(b) may lay before the Assembly a report of the results of any such examinations.

(7) For the purposes of carrying out such examinations, the auditor—

(a) has a right of access at all reasonable times to every document in the possession, or under the control, of the Auditor General which the auditor reasonably requires for that purpose, and

(b) may require any person holding or accountable for any of those documents to provide any assistance, information or explanation which the auditor reasonably thinks necessary for that purpose.