Our strategy
The NAO Strategy 2012-13 to 2014-15
sets out how we will apply the unique perspective of public audit
to help Parliament and government drive lasting improvement in
public services.
The challenges currently faced by the public
sector are significant, with public bodies under pressure to
deliver their services with fewer resources. It is now more
important than ever for these organisations to be in control of
their costs, to manage their risks, to have adequate information
about their performance, and to understand how their services can
be delivered most cost-effectively.
In addition to the challenges of the fiscal
landscape, our strategy sets out how we intend to respond to the
changing policy and audit landscapes. Across many parts of the
public sector, significant reform is taking place to the design and
delivery of public services. We will reflect these changes in our
work programme over the coming year. There is also change in the
audit landscape, with reform to local public audit and further
accounting alignments across the public sector. Our strategy sets
out how we will respond to these changes.
Our deep public audit expertise and our
independent remit across the whole of the public sector allow us to
focus on issues that are central to ensuring that public money is
well spent. Our strategy will allow us to add value in helping to
drive public service improvement while requiring 15 per cent fewer
resources over the three years of our strategy. We aim to achieve
this by building a high-performance organisation that develops and
applies its expert knowledge positively to influence those
responsible for running Britain’s public services.
In 2012-13, we will continue to focus on three
strategic themes that impact on all departments’ performance in
achieving value for money: improving financial management and
reporting; making better use of information; and ensuring that
services are delivered cost-effectively. Our financial audit work
will remain central to Parliament’s ability to hold government to
account for its expenditure of public money. We will report to
Parliament on government actions to address the economic impact of
the financial crisis and the implications for the nation’s
finances. We will also report on the government’s approach to
reducing public spending and the costs of public services.