The auditor general oversees or assures accountability within the three arms of government (the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary) as well as the constitutional commissions and independent offices by checking whether these institutions utilized public financial resources effectively.

After careful examination of an institutions financial statements, the Auditor General awards either an unqualified opinion, a qualified opinion, an adverse opinion or a disclaimer of opinion. An unqualified opinion suggests that an institution’s financial statements give a true and fair view, a qualified opinion is arrived at when the specific element(s) in the financial statements is material but not pervasive, an adverse opinion is expressed when the auditor, having obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence, concludes that misstatements ,individually or in the aggregate, are both material and pervasive to the financial statements and a disclaimer of opinion is expressed when the auditor is unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence on which to base the opinion, and the auditor concludes that possible effects of undetected misstatements on the financial statements. If any, could be both material and pervasive.

The Office of the Auditor General draws its mandate from the Constitution of Kenya.
Chapter 12, Part 6, Article 229 establishes the Office of the Auditor General. Chapter 15, Article 248, Section 3 and Article 249, Section 2 (a) and (b) provides for the independence of the Office of the Auditor General.

The reports are available on the Office of the Auditor General’s website (www.oagkenya.go.ke), the Government printer, public libraries, institutions of higher learning and every audited entity. However, reports can only be availed to the public after they have been tabled in Parliament or the relevant County Assembly.

Audit reports should be released after the end of each financial year.