Introduction

In Spain there are seventeen Autonomous Communities. Every Autonomus Community not only has its own Administration but also a Parliament. It is the job of Parliament to legislate and to control the Administration. Andalusia, in southern Spain, is the most populated Autonomous Community.

The Audit Chamber of Andalusia was created by Law 1/1988 of 17 March as the technical body which depends on the Parliament of Andalusia and is in charge of external audit of the economic, financial and accounting management of public funds of Andalusia, one of the seventeen Spanish Autonomous Communities.

At that time, the Andalusian Community had existed as an Autonomy for eight years: on 28th February, 1980 the people of Andalusia voted for full autonomy within the framework of a common State project.

The Audit Chamber of Andalusia is part of a new environment, which is today's territorial organisation.

The main objective of the institution is to help improve the working of the Administration, optimising the use of its resources. The Audit Chamber of Andalusia contributes to make citizens perceive that the Administration is audited, that such audit is real and that through it everything referring to the correct use of public resources is known.

It is fundamental that the dependence of the Audit Chamber of Andalusia on Parliament is understood as an organic or sectorial dependence, but never functional. Parliament must guarantee the autonomy and independence necessary so that its functions can be performed efficiently.

Background

In a system of parliamentary democracy, in addition to the legislative function it is the responsibility of Parliament to audit the Government. To this end, the legislative functions are endowed with specific organic instruments, such as the Ombudsman to audit the working of the Administration with regard to the citizens, and the Courts, Sindicaturas (Auditing Bodies) or Audit Chambers, to audit their financial activity or, more precisely, render their accounts.

However, such a conception of external audit bodies as those commissioned by the legislative Assembly is relatively recent. Historically, the rendering of public accounts took place in the presence of the Monarch and more attention was paid to tax collection than to expenditure. Therefore, the origins of the present Court of Auditors are to be found in the Accounting Rules of Juan II of Castile at the beginning of the 15th century (the Rules of 1436 creating the House of Accounts of Valladolid, those of 1437 organizing the Contadur’a Mayor de Cuentas [Senior Accounts Department] and those of 1442 establishing the regulation and audit of expenditure), although its configuration as the National Court of Auditors as such did not take place until 1605 under Felipe III.