Public Accounts Committee

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a standing committee of the legislature charged with examining the accounts of government departments and the reports of the national auditor. Its core function is ex post financial scrutiny: confirming that expenditure was authorised, that funds were spent on the purposes intended, and that value for money was achieved.

The model originates in the United Kingdom, where the PAC was established in 1861 under Chancellor of the Exchequer William Gladstone. It works in close partnership with the Comptroller and Auditor General, who heads the National Audit Office and supplies the committee with audit reports that form the basis of its hearings. By long-standing convention, the UK PAC is chaired by a member of the largest opposition party, reinforcing its role as a check on the executive.

The Westminster template has been widely adopted across Commonwealth jurisdictions, including India, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Kenya, and Bangladesh. In India, the PAC is constituted under Rule 308 of the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha and draws members from both Houses of Parliament; it works with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India established under Article 148 of the Constitution.

Typical PAC activities include:

• Reviewing audit reports laid before the legislature
• Summoning accounting officers (usually permanent secretaries or department heads) to give evidence
• Issuing reports with findings and recommendations
• Tracking departmental responses and implementation of past recommendations

The PAC generally does not examine the policy merits of spending decisions — that is the role of policy committees — but rather the regularity, propriety, and economy of how policy was executed. Its power is largely reputational: PAC hearings are public, recommendations are politically weighty, and accounting officers face personal scrutiny. In some systems, the PAC works alongside related bodies such as estimates committees or committees on public undertakings, which handle forward budgets and state enterprises respectively.