The revision and opinion of the Legislative Power about the performance and the general situation of the national civil service are based on the reports of the Auditoría General de la Nación (Supreme Audit Institution). This technical advisory body of Congress with functional autonomy, is established by the law regulating its creation and operation, which is approved by the absolute majority of the members of each House. The chairman of the body is appointed under the proposal of the Opposition political Party with the largest number of legislators in Congress.
The body is in charge of the control of the legal aspects, management and auditing of all the activities of the centralized and decentralized civil service, whatever its forms of organization may be, as well as of other powers granted by law. It must take part in the approval or rejection of the revenue and investment accounts of public funds.
Seven (7) members appointed as General Auditors shall be in charge of the Auditoría General de la Nación. They must be of Argentine nationality, holding a Universitiy degree in the areas of Business Administration or Law, with tested specialization in financial administration and control. They hold office for a period of eight (8) years and may be re-elected. Six of the General Auditors are appointed by resolution of both Houses of the National Congress, three (3) of them are appointed by the Senate and the other three (3) by the House of Representatives, observing the parties' participation of each House. The seventh General Auditor is appointed by joint resolution of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, and he will be the President of the entitiy. He holds the mandate of representing and performing the co-auditors' decisions.
When appointing the General Auditors for the first time, it shall be decided by casting lots who will be the three (3) auditors holding office during a four (4) year term, and the remaining three (3) to whom will correspond an eight (8) year term.
General Auditors may be removed, in case of serious misconduct or evident unfulfillment of their duties, by the procedures set forth in their appointment.
Its jurisdiction shall be the further external control of the budgetary, economic, financial, patrimonial and legal management, as well as reporting on the financial statements of the central Administration, decentralized organizations, State-owned companies and societies, public utilities' regulating agencies, the Municipality of Buenos Aires, and private companies which have been allocated privatization processes, as regards the commitments arising from the respective contracts. The management control of the officials mentioned in Section 45 of the National Constitution shall always be global and implemented exclusively by the Houses of the National Congress. The further external control of the National Congress shall be implemented by the Auditoría General de la Nación. The National Supreme Court stipulates the methods and scope to be implemented in the setting up of the system established herein, as regards the Judicial Power of the Nation.
The National Congress may extend its jurisdiction of external control to public entities which are not State-owned, or to those related to private law, in whose management and administration the National State has liabilities. It may also exert control on entities to which it is associated, including those that have been allocated contributions or subsidies for their installation or operation, and in general, to any entity that perceives, spends or manages public funds by virtue of a statutory regulation or with a public purpose.
Within the framework of the annual action plan of external control established by the Committees, the Auditoría General de la Nación have the following duties:
a) To control the fulfillment of the legal and statutory provisions regarding the use of State resources, once the corresponding actions have been enacted;
b) To perform financial, legal and management audits, special examinations of the jurisdictions and entities under its control, as well as evaluations of programs, projects and operations. These tasks may be performed either directly or by the hiring of independent auditing professionals.
c) To audit, on its own or by independent auditing professionals, the units which implement programs and projects financed by international credit organizations, in accordance with the agreements which shall have been reached for this purpose, between the Argentine Nation and such organizations;
d) To examine and issue reports on the financial statements prepared by the national administration organizations at the end of the fiscal year;
e) To control the allocation of resources deriving from public credit transactions, and to carry out the special examinations which may be needed to reach an opinion about the situation of this indebtment. For this purpose, it may request from the Ministerio de Economía y Obras y Servicios Públicos and from the Banco Central de la República Argentina any information it deems necessary regarding internal and external indebtment transactions.
f) To audit and issue reports on the financial statements of the Banco Central de la República Argentina, regardless of any external audit which shall be hired thereof;
g) To perform special examinations of acts and agreements of economic significance, on its own or by instruction of the Houses of Congress or the Auditing Parliamentary Joint Committee;
h) To audit and issue an opinion about the financial report and financial statements, as well as the degree of fulfillment of the action plans and budget of State-owned companies and societies;
i) To establish the qualifications that the independent auditing professionals herein mentioned must have, and the technical regulations to be followed during the performance of their duties;
g) To verify that the Administration's entities keep the record of their civil servants' assets. For this purpose, every civil servant with the rank of minister, secretary, undersecretary, national director, senior authority of decentralized organizations or member of the board of directors of State-owned companies and societies, is bound to submit an assets affidavit which must be updated either annually or when leaving office, within forty-eight (48) hours of taking office or the enforcement of this Act.
In order to perform its duties, the Auditoría General de la Nación may perform any act, agreement or operation related to its jurisdiction; demand the collaboration of all the entities of the public sector, which shall be bound to provide the data, documents, antecedents and reports related to the performance of their duties; promote investigations of patrimonial significance whenever adequate, communicating the results to the Auditing Parliamentary Joint Committee, for the purpose of subsection f) of the herein section.
Furthermore, it also prescribes the criteria for control and auditing, and establish the external audit regulations to be used by the entity. Such criteria and the deriving regulations shall follow a pattern of control and comprehensive external audit which must comprise the aspects of finance, legality, economy, efficiency and effectiveness;
In order to perform its duties, the Auditoría General de la Nación must:
Prescribe the criteria for control and auditing, and establish the external audit regulations to be used by the entity. Such criteria and the deriving regulations shall follow a pattern of control and comprehensive external audit which must comprise the aspects of finance, legality, economy, efficiency and effectiveness;
Submit to the above-mentioned Committee the annual report before May 1st;
Divulge the material mentioned in the previous subsection, except for that which shall remain confidential by instruction of the Auditing Parliamentary Joint Committee
The Auditoría General de la Nación, is an organism which enjoys its own legal capacity and functional independence. To insure the latter, it also bears financial independence. Its organic structure, basic internal regulations, distribution of duties, and basic operating regulations, shall be established by joint resolutions of the Auditing Parliamentary Joint Committee and the Budget and Public Finance Committees of both Houses of the National Congress, in the first instance.
Seven (7) members appointed as General Auditors shall be in charge of the Auditoría General de la Nación. Six of the General Auditors shall be appointed by resolution of both Houses of the National Congress, three (3) of them shall be appointed by the Senate and the other three (3) by the House of Representatives, observing the parties' participation of each House. The seventh General Auditor shall be appointed by joint resolution of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, and he will be the President of the entitiy
The Auditing Parliamentary Joint Committe is made up by six (6) Senators and six (6) Representatives, who shall hold office until the House to which they belong is renewed, and they shall be simultaneously chosen in the same way as the members of standing Committees. The Committee chooses a President, Vicepresident and Secretary once a year, who may be re-elected.
The Auditing Parliamentary Joint Committee must, together with the Budget and Public Finance Committees of both Houses, pass the annual action plan of external control to be implemented by the Auditoría General de la Nación; and also analyze the draft of the Auditoría General de la Nación's annual budget and submit it to the Executive Power for its incorporation in the General Budget of the Nation;
The administrative functions of the General Auditors assembled in the Collegiate Body include appointing the staff and look after its affairs, in accordance with the internal regulations on this matter, specially observing that there is a balanced interdisciplinary structure which allows for the performance of audits and comprehensive evaluations of public management; and to appoint representatives and heads of special audits.