History of the National Audit Office

The National Audit Office is historically the key financial monitoring organ in Finland. It is the oldest Finnish state institution responsible for auditing the government's financial management and the state economy.

The National Audit Office's history goes back to 1695, when an independent body was set up to monitor financial administration under the Swedish crown. The actual forerunner of the National Audit Office was established in 1824 under the Financial Department of the Finnish Senate.

During the period when Finland was an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian empire (1812-1917) and in the early years of independence, state audit activities remained largely unchanged, focusing on numerical audits of government accounts and the legality of administration. The basis for the present dual system of external supervision and auditing of state finances was created by the Constitution of 1919. The Audit Office began operating under the Ministry of Finance in 1924.

After the Second World War legislation was passed in 1947 to reform the state audit system and the National Audit Office went into operation in its new form in 1948.