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 work.

NAO is now seeking an External Auditor who will be expected to audit the financial years ending 31 March 2025, 2026, and 2027 to an appropriate timetable. The NAO aims to have its Annual Report and Accounts (which include the financial statements) ready for publication in June each year following the 31 March year end.

The contract is anticipated to commence July 2024 for an initial period of 3 years with an option for the NAO to extend the contract for a period of up to two years subject to approval by the Public Accounts Commission (on the basis of two periods of 12 months) (potentially making it a maximum term of 5 years.

The estimated value of the contract is £700,000 inclusive of VAT for the full 5 years.

The appointment of the External Auditor will be subject to approval of Parliament's Public Accounts Commission at a hearing expected to take place in early Spring 2024.

Examples of prior year studies can be found on the Commission website: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications?SearchTerm=value+for+money&DateFrom=&DateTo=&SessionId=

The selected External Auditor will be expected to provide an opinion on whether:

• the financial statements give a true and fair view for the year;

• the statements are prepared in accordance with the Government Financial Reporting Manual;

• the NAO's expenditure is within its Parliamentary Control Totals for the year (capital, resource, cash); and

• expenditure and income have been applied correctly for the purposes intended by Parliament.

The External Auditor will also be expected to:

• provide an independent review of the annual statement of financial impacts arising from the NAO's work and providing an opinion on whether the reported impacts are reasonable based on the underlying methodologies on which they are prepared.

• deliver a value for money study of an aspect of the NAO's operations when commissioned by the NAO's Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) to an appropriate timetable. The nature of the topic may change. Examples of recent value for money studies have covered the NAO's Human Resources department, and Finance and Procurement.

• attend meetings of the NAO's ARAC Committee and, when requested to do so, meetings of the Public Accounts Commission.