Mandate
The OAG mandate is derived from the Constitution of Zimbabwe & the Audit Office Act.
The functions of the Auditor-General as provided for under Section 309 of the Zimbabwe Constitution read together with the Audit Office Act (Chapter 22:18) are as follows:
to audit the accounts, financial systems and financial management of all departments, institutions and agencies of government, all provincial and metropolitan councils and all local authorities;
At the request of the Government, to carry out special audits of the accounts of any statutory body or government-controlled entity;
to order the taking of measures to rectify any defects in the management and safeguarding of public funds and public property; and
to exercise any other functions that may be conferred or imposed on him or her by or under an Act of Parliament.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe, read together with the Audit Office Act, also entitles the Auditor-General to exercise the following powers:-
call upon an officer for ,and shall be entitled to receive without undue delay from that officer, any explanations and information he or she may require in order to enable him or her to discharge his or her duties;
authorize any person to conduct on his or her behalf any examination, enquiry, inspection or audit of any books and accounts which he or she may be required by or under this Act to examine and audit, and such person shall report thereon to the Auditor-General in such manner as he or she may direct;
Provided that any such authority given to any person shall be subject to the concurrence of the head of the Ministry or public entity in which the officer is employed;
without payment of any fee, cause search to be made in and extracts to be taken from any book, document or record in the custody or possession of an officer;
Examine upon oath any persons whom he or she thinks fit to examine respecting thereceipt or expenditure of public moneys or the receipt or issue of any State property and respecting whatever is necessary for the due performance exercise of the duties and powers vested in him or her.