Public Audit Act 2001

Audits and reports - Audits of public entities

18: Inquiries by Auditor-General

You could also call this:

"The Auditor-General checks if public entities are using resources correctly"

The Auditor-General can look into how a public entity uses its resources, either because someone asked them to or because they want to. You can think of the Auditor-General like a checker who makes sure public entities are using their resources correctly. The Auditor-General can do this for most public entities, but not for registered banks, which are defined in section 2(1) of the Banking (Prudential Supervision) Act 1989.

If the Auditor-General looks into a public entity, they will check if the entity is following any government or local authority policies. The Auditor-General will only look at how well the public entity is following these policies when using its resources. This means the Auditor-General will focus on whether the public entity is being consistent with the policies it is supposed to follow.

The Auditor-General has to follow some rules when doing these inquiries, and they have to be careful about what they are checking.

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This page was last updated on 10 September 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM88900.

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17: Other auditing services, or

"The Auditor-General can do extra checking work for public entities if they ask for it."

19: Auditor of other entities, or

"The Auditor-General can audit groups that aren't public, if they help the public and it's a good idea."

Part 3Audits and reports
Audits of public entities

18Inquiries by Auditor-General

The Auditor-General may inquire, either on request or on the Auditor-General’s own initiative, into any matter concerning a public entity’s use of its resources.
Subsection (1) does not apply to any registered bank (as defined in section 2(1) of the Banking (Prudential Supervision) Act 1989).
If subsection (1) applies and there is an applicable government or local authority policy to which the public entity is required to adhere, the inquiry is to be limited to the extent to which the public entity is using its resources in a manner consistent with that policy.

Notes

Section 18(2): replaced, on 1 July 2022, by section 300(1) of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 (2021 No 31).