National Audit Office

The National Audit Office (NAO) is the UK’s independent public spending watchdog.

We support Parliament in holding government to account and we help improve public services through our high-quality audits.

We are independent of government and the civil service. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), Gareth Davies, leads the NAO. He is an officer of the House of Commons with statutory authority to:

• audit and report on the financial accounts of all government departments and other public bodies
• examine and report on the value for money of how public money has been spent. ​

We support the work of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). It uses our reports to hold evidence sessions focused on public spending and scrutinising the implementation of government policy. Audited bodies are required to respond to recommendations made by PAC, which are often based on our work.

The Public Accounts Commission (TPAC), a parliamentary committee of MPs, oversees our work. Read more about the governance of the NAO.

We have a five-year strategy for 2025 to 2030. We will focus on helping improve the productivity and resilience of public services and better financial management and reporting in government. By working effectively with Parliament and our other stakeholders, we aim to maximise our impact on trust and value for money.