Holding Government to Account: Democracy and the National Audit Office

The National Audit Office has played an important role in the checks and balances of the UK parliamentary and political system over the last 40 years. This new book, more than just a history of the UK’s supreme audit institution, examines the very definition of accountability through both an historic and an academic lens, critically exploring questions about the role of audit in a democracy and how well it is working.

Holding Government to Account draws on several unique sources of evidence, including interviews with senior officials from the National Audit Office and the civil service, as well as senior parliamentarians with experience of the NAO’s relationships with government and legislature. These interviews are supplemented by an analysis of previously unpublished manuscript material in the National Archives, examination of NAO reports and parliamentary and other reports focused on accountability. The book begins with a history of the National Audit Office in the context of the UK’s wider history. It then offers an overview of the constitutional, political and human legacies of the Exchequer and Audit Department, followed by a close examination of the National Audit Office’s leadership and decision-making from inception in 1984 through to the present. The authors conclude with an exploration of the way in which the meaning of public sector audit has evolved over time, in accordance with its wider political, ideological and material context. In doing so, they demonstrate that any question about the National Audit Office’s future and organisation is really a question about what democracy and good government mean in a modern bureaucratic state.

Holding Government to Account will be of keen interest to students enrolled in courses on accounting, public administration, law and politics as well as to politicians, civil servants and Supreme Audit Institutions internationally.

Laurence Ferry is an award-winning Full Professor in Accounting for Democracy at Durham University, UK, where he holds a Chair and served as Head of the Accounting Department, and Senior Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Rutgers University, USA. He earned his PhD at Warwick Business School, UK, is a fully qualified chartered accountant, and holds a first-class accounting degree. As a world-renowned expert in international public financial management, he has published well over 100 outputs including prize-winning journal papers, books and reports on public sector accounting, audit, and accountability. In addition, Laurence has been a Parliamentary Fellow and Adviser to Select Committees at the UK Parliament. Furthermore, he is on the International Advisory Panel of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and has recently led work with the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), culminating in the Rio Declaration on changing audit and accountability arrangements for almost 200 Supreme Audit Institutions internationally.

Henry C Midgley is an Associate Professor in the Accounting Department at Durham University, UK. He did his PhD at Cambridge University focused on the political thinking of the New Model Army during the Civil Wars. He worked at the NAO between 2008 and 2021 and, whilst on secondment to the House of Commons between 2015 and 2018, authored landmark reports examining the role of accounting in constitutional democracy and the democratic functions of public sector audit. He has written academically about the NAO and financial scrutiny in the UK.

Aileen D Murphie is an Honorary Professor at Durham University, UK. She worked at the NAO from 1983 to 2021, with 2 years on secondment to the Cabinet Office, serving from 2003 to 2013 as Director of Justice Value for Money, covering the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice and from 2013 to 2021 as Director for Local Government Value for Money. She led on implementing new statutory powers granted to the NAO after the abolition of the Audit Commission. During her NAO career, she published 90 major reports and supported over 70 Public Accounts Committee sessions. Since retirement from the NAO, Aileen has been a Specialist Adviser to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee at the UK Parliament and Chair of the Practice Oversight Panel of CIPFA, issuing advice to the finance profession locally on matters of concern.