What is the Auditor General of Canada?

The Auditor General of Canada is an independent officer of Parliament who audits the federal government's financial statements and conducts performance audits of federal departments, agencies, and Crown corporations. The Auditor General was established by the Audit of Public Accounts Act of 1878 and operates today under the Auditor General Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. A-17. The current Auditor General is Karen Hogan, appointed June 8, 2020 (the first woman in the role).

The Auditor General has three main types of audits. Financial audits verify that the federal government's financial statements are accurate; the Auditor General audits the consolidated annual federal Public Accounts and provides an independent opinion on the federal financial statements. Performance audits examine whether federal programmes and operations are achieving their objectives effectively and economically; the Auditor General typically conducts 20 to 40 performance audits per year on selected federal departments, agencies, and Crown corporations. Special examinations review the operations of federal Crown corporations every 10 years.

The Auditor General reports to the House of Commons through the Speaker, with reports referred to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP). The Auditor General's reports have generated major political controversies, including the 2003 to 2004 Sponsorship Scandal investigation (which exposed irregularities in federal advertising payments and contributed to the defeat of Paul Martin's government), the COVID-19 pandemic spending audits (which revealed billions of dollars of payments to ineligible recipients), and the 2022 ArriveCAN investigation (which exposed irregular contracting in the federal pandemic-border app). The Auditor General is appointed by the Governor in Council on the advice of the Prime Minister, with the term fixed at 10 years (non-renewable) under the Auditor General Act.

The Auditor General's Office (the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, OAG) has about 600 employees in Ottawa and produces about 3,000 to 4,000 audit working papers per year. The OAG also conducts the audits of three territorial governments (under the Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut Acts). The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (a separate office within the OAG) conducts audits on federal environmental performance. Major recent reports include the 2024 audits on Indigenous youth justice, on COVID-19 pandemic spending, and on the federal Greener Homes Grant. The 2023 to 2024 Auditor General's Report annexed more than 50 specific recommendations to federal departments.