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UK National Audit Office: Management Board

Comptroller and Auditor General

Tim Burr

Tim Burr was appointed Comptroller and Auditor General on 1 February 2008.

Tim joined the National Audit Office in 1994 as an Assistant Auditor General. He led a client portfolio comprising the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions; the Home Office; the Lord Chancellor's Department; the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; the Inland Revenue; Customs and Excise; and the Treasury. He became the Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General in May 2000, responsible to the Comptroller and Auditor General for the management of the entire budget (£92 million gross) and all 850 staff of the National Audit Office (NAO). He also led on the Office’s support to the work of the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC).

Before joining the NAO, Tim held a succession of roles in the Treasury, culminating in that of Treasury Officer of Accounts between 1993-94. In this position he was responsible for government relations with the National Audit Office and the PAC.

Tim was born in 1950 and educated at Dulwich College. He is an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

 

Assistant Auditors General

Caroline Mawhood

Before becoming Assistant Auditor General in 1996, Caroline Mawhood served as Director of Corporate Policy for three years and spent a year on secondment in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. Caroline is responsible for the audits of Customs and Excise, Inland Revenue, HM Treasury, Trade and Industry and associated non-departmental public bodies and agencies and the economic regulators She also has responsibility for performance measurement studies, corporate policy and relations with the European Union. Caroline is a Member of the CIPFA Council.

Wendy Kenway-Smith

Wendy Kenway-Smith became an Assistant Auditor General in 2000, and has responsibility for the management of audits in the areas of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Transport, Lord Chancellor's Department, the Home Office and Parliament. Wendy also oversees skills and career development and is the Office's Member Responsible for Training under the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales' training scheme.

Wendy joined the NAO in 1994 as Director of audits in the Central Government Finance area. She is a Chartered Accountant, and was previously a partner in BDO Stoy Hayward, a commercial sector practice.


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Martin Sinclair

Martin Sinclair became an Assistant Auditor General in 1999. He is a former Private Secretary to the Comptroller and Auditor General and Director of Financial Audit policy. His current responsibilities include all financial audit policy, the management of the NAO's international audit work, Information Technology resources, and the audits of the Department of Culture Media and Sport. Martin is also a member of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board.

Jim Rickleton

Jim Rickleton became an Assistant Auditor General in 2003. He joined the NAO in 1981 and has previously been Private Secretary to the Comptroller and Auditor General, and directed audits including Education, Defence, the then Department for Social Security and United Nations agencies. Jim now has specific responsibility for the audits of Defence, International Development, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Intelligence Agencies. He is also responsible for Personnel and leads the promotion of diversity in the NAO.

Michael Whitehouse

Before becoming an Assistant Auditor General in April 2002, Michael Whitehouse served as Director of Value for Money Development and Modernising Government studies and spent 5 months on secondment with the Office of the Auditor General of New Zealand. Michael is the NAO’s Principal Finance Officer and responsible for the audits of the Cabinet Office and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Michael also leads for the NAO on cross cutting studies on the Government service delivery improvement programme and on the Office of Government Commerce’s drive to improve procurement performance. He also has responsibility for developing the NAO’s approach to value for money studies and ongoing quality assurance.

Ed Humpherson

Ed became an Assistant Auditor General in 2007 and is responsible for our private finance and economic regulation work as well as for the audit of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Previously Ed was the National Audit Office’s Director of Regulation studies. He produced reports to Parliament on the effectiveness of regulation across a range of sectors, including communications, the postal market, utility industries, the pensions industry, and competition enforcement. He was also responsible for the NAO’s work on Better Regulation, including the evaluation of Regulatory Impact Assessments prepared by central government departments and of the Government’s programme to reduce administrative burdens, as well as the current reviews of how major Regulators have implemented the Hampton review’s recommendations. He led the NAO’s study on the Financial Services Authority, which was published in April 2007.

Ed joined the NAO in 1993. After qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1996, he has specialised in analysing the interaction of public and private sectors in a variety of roles, including privatisations, the Private Finance Initiatives and PPPs.

Gabrielle Cohen

Gabrielle Cohen was promoted to Assistant Auditor General in 2005. She is responsible for communications, corporate affairs, business development and relations with Parliament. She trained as an auditor in the NAO and most recently was the Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs.


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