A public accounts committee (PAC) is a committee within a

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

whose role is to study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and report on their findings subsequent to a government budget audit. Typically, the government is required to report back to parliament on PAC recommendations within a specified period, usually two to six months. More often than not, opposition members chair PACs in the commonwealth. Based on their findings, PACs often make recommendations to government ministries requiring that they change certain policies and procedures to improve their operations.

History

The majority of legislatures descending from the British Parliament use public account committees to follow up on the findings of public audits. Since the creation of the Public Accounts Committee in the Gladstonian Reforms of 1861, PACs have become ubiquitous throughout the Commonwealth. The tremendous expansion and scope of government and of state-owned enterprises during the second half of the 20th century made PACs, which are charged with overseeing government expenditures, even more important.

Challenges

Public Accounts Committees face several challenges. For one, auditors general are often poorly funded, and their reports may be lengthy, complex, poorly organized, and difficult to understand. Funding and staff shortages mean that audit reports are often years behind, so ministry officials needed for questioning might have moved on. In many cases auditors general are appointed by the executive and so may have little incentive to uncover problems that could embarrass those who appointed them. Investigating report findings is time and labor-intensive. Parliaments need professional staff, but they are often not available. Finally, governments are often not responsive to parliament, and there may be few tools at a parliament's disposal to compel government compliance.

National examples

* Public Accounts Committee (Canada) (officially Standing Committee on Public Accounts, PACP) of the Canadian House of Commons * Public Accounts Committee (Hong Kong) of the Hong Kong Legislative Council *

Public Accounts Committee (India) The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a committee of selected Member of parliament (India), members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the purpose of auditing the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India. The ...

of the Parliament of India *

State Finance Accountability Committee The State Finance Accountability Committee ( (BAKN)) is an auditory body of the legislative branch in Indonesia's political system and was established under Paragraph 6 of Indonesian Law No.27 2009 enacted on 29 August 2009.;Paragraph 6 of Indo ...

of the Peoples Representative Council (DPR) of Indonesia *

Public Accounts Committee (Ireland) The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) (formally the Committee of Public Accounts) () is a standing committee of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish Parliament. It oversees government expenditures to ensure they are effective and honest. It i ...

of the Irish Oireachtas *

Public Accounts Committee (Malaysia) The Public Accounts Committee (Malay language, Malay: ''Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang Negara'') (PAC) is a select committee (parliamentary system), select committee of the Dewan Rakyat, House of Representatives in the Parliament of Malaysia. The PAC d ...

of the Parliament of Malaysia *

Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Malta) The Parliament of Malta () is the constitutional legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the president of Malta. By constitutional law, all governme ...

of the Maltese House of Representatives * Public Accounts Committee (New South Wales) of the Parliament of New South Wales *

Finance and Expenditure Committee The Finance and Expenditure Committee (known as the Public Accounts Committee until 1962, and as the Public Expenditure Committee, from 1962) is a select committee of the House of Representatives, the unicameral chamber of the New Zealand Parliame ...

of the Parliament of New Zealand * Public Accounts Committee (Pakistan) of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

Standing Committee on Public Accounts The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA; Afrikaans: ''Staande Komitee oor Openbare Rekeninge'') is a standing committee of the National Assembly of South Africa, the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa. It oversees the financial ...

of the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation sy ...

*''Public Accounts Committee'' of the Scottish Parliament, see

Committees of the Scottish Parliament Scottish Parliament committees () are small groups of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) who meet on a regular basis to scrutinise the work of the Scottish Government, conduct inquiries into subjects within their remit and examine legisl ...

* Public Accounts Committee (Singapore) of the Parliament of Singapore *

Public Accounts Committee (Tasmania) The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, H ...

of the Parliament of Tasmania *

Public Accounts Committee (United Kingdom) The Committee of Public Accounts is a select committee of the British House of Commons. It is responsible for overseeing government expenditures, and to ensure they are effective and honest. The committee is seen as a crucial mechanism for e ...

of the British House of Commons

References

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History

Challenges

National examples

See also

References

Further reading