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Constitution and Administration

Audit Commission

The Audit Commission, headed by the Director of Audit, is established under the Basic Law, which provides that it shall function independently and be accountable to the Chief Executive.

The Audit Ordinance provides for the audit of the government's accounts by the Director of Audit and for the submission of the director's report to the President of the Legislative Council. The director also audits the accounts of the Exchange Fund, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, five trading funds and more than 60 other funds, and reviews the financial operations of multifarious government-subvented organisations.

The director carries out two types of audit: regularity audits and value-for-money audits. Regularity audits aim to provide an overall assurance of the general accuracy and propriety of the financial and accounting transactions of the government and other audited bodies. The director has statutory authority under the ordinance to conduct regularity audits.

Value-for-money audits aim to provide independent information, advice and assurance about the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which any government bureau, department, agency, other public body, public office or audited organisation has discharged its functions. Except for some public organisations where the director has statutory authority to conduct value-for-money audits, these audits are carried out according to a set of guidelines agreed between the director and the legislature's Public Accounts Committee and accepted by the government.

The director's report is submitted to the President of the Legislative Council and laid before the council, where it is considered by the committee. In 2018, the director submitted three reports: one on the audit certification of the government's accounts for the preceding financial year and two on the results of value-for-money audits, Report No 70 of April 2018 and Report No 71 of October 2018.

For Report No 70, the committee selected three of the eight chapters for public hearing, namely 'Management of restored landfills, 'Integrated education' and 'Sha Tin Section of Route 8, and investigated the remaining five chapters by making written enquiries.

For Report No 71, the committee selected two of the 10 chapters for public hearing, namely 'Centre for Food Safety: Management of food safety' and 'Centre for Food Safety: Import control of foods, and investigated the remaining eight chapters by making written enquiries.

The audit recommendations were accepted by the audited bodies. The value-for-money audit reports attracted considerable public interest.

The director's reports on the accounts of other public bodies are submitted to the relevant authorities according to the legislation governing those bodies' operation.

HKSAR's External Affairs

Active participation in international activities and close liaison with international partners have enabled the HKSAR to maintain its status as a global financial, trade, civil aviation and shipping

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