Question 01 To what organization do Audit and Inspection Commissioners and the Secretariat to the Audit and Inspection Commissioners belong?

Answer

Audit and Inspection Commissioner operate in the executive body prescribed for in the Local Autonomy Law and may act independently of the governor.
The Secretariat to the Audit and Inspection Commissioners is an organization that supports their work.

Question 01 To what organization do Audit and Inspection Commissioners and the Secretariat to the Audit and Inspection Commissioners belong?

Answer

Audit and Inspection Commissioner operate in the executive body prescribed for in the Local Autonomy Law and may act independently of the governor.
The Secretariat to the Audit and Inspection Commissioners is an organization that supports their work.

Question 02 What kind of work do Audit and Inspection Commissioners engage in?

Answer

The work of an Audit Commissioner is to audit the operations of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government keeping the following in mind;

• Whether or not taxes paid by the residents of Tokyo are being wasted
• Whether or not each individual operation of the Metropolitan Government accomplishes its objective and achieves the expected results

In addition to recurring audits, some other audits such as those requested by citizen may be performed in certain specific circumstances.

Question 03 Who is appointed as an Audit Commissioner?

Answer

Audit and Inspection Commissioners are appointed by the chief executive (governor or mayor) with the approval of the assembly. They are selected from among members of the assembly and also from among persons of honorable character who have expert knowledge of financial management, business administration and other administrative operations with respect to local public bodies.
The term of office for the commissioners appointed as having expert knowledge is four years, and for those appointed from the assembly the term coincides with their term as assembly members.

According to a Metropolitan bylaw for Audit and Inspection Commissioners, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government audit and inspection commissioners consist of 5 persons; 3 experts and 2 members of the assembly.

Question 04 What kind of audits do Audit and Inspection Commissioners perform?

Answer

Audit and Inspection Commissioners perform audits such as the regular audit and the administrative audit in accordance with the provisions of the Local Autonomy Law and other regulations.

Question 05 What is the extent of Tokyo Metropolitan Government audits?

Answer

The outline of audits performed is as follows;

Question 06 Is it true that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government may perform audits of other organizations outside the metropolitan government?

Answer

Audit and Inspection Commissioners audit the following organizations in order to check if the capital investment or subsidy provided by the Metropolitan Government is being used in a proper manner. (Audit of Organizations which receive Financial Support)

• Organizations in which the Metropolitan Government has made a capital investment (third sector corporations, foundations, etc.)
• Organizations to which the Metropolitan Government has granted a subsidy (social welfare organizations, school organizations, etc.)

Question 07 In reading audit reports, we often see terms such as "compliance", "economy", "efficiency" and "effectiveness". What do they mean?

Answer

In performing audits, Audit and Inspection Commissioners examine an auditee from the standpoint of "compliance", "economy", "efficiency" and "effectiveness".

• Compliance
  whether or not the auditee operates in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations
• Economy
  whether or not the auditee wastes expenditures
• Efficiency
  whether or not the auditee can implement better measures or methods
• Effectiveness
  whether or not the auditee satisfies its objectives

Question 08 Recently we often hear the term "3E audit". What kind of audit is this?

Answer

The 3E audit is an audit performed from the standpoint of Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness, which is illustrated in Question 07 above.

Question 09 In audit reports we see 2 types of comments; "Suggestions/Recommendations (Shiteki-jiko)" and "Requests (Iken/Youbo-jiko)". What is the difference between them?

Answer

Suggestions/Recommendations (Shiteki-jiko) is a comment that demands an improvement. Requests (Iken/Youbo-jiko) is a comment that requests an improvement be considered.

Question 10 On occasion we wonder if the Metropolitan Government is using our taxes in a proper manner. Is it possible that we, residents of Tokyo, can somehow request audits directly?

Answer

There are 2 ways for citizens of Tokyo to request the Audit and Inspection Commissioners to perform an audit; petitions for "audit (on demand) of administrative affairs" and "citizen petition for audit".

Audit (on demand) of administrative affairs

• This audit may cover all operations of the Metropolitan Government.
• The petition can be effective when presented with the signatures of at least one-fiftieth of the electorates (in the case of Tokyo, approximately 200 thousands).

The Citizen Petition for Audit

• The scope of this audit is limited to administrative affairs linked to financial accounting, for example, the conclusion of contracts, administration of public property, etc.
• This can be requested by any single resident of Tokyo.
• Please see the Guide for Citizen Petition for Audit for more details.

Question 11 We hear the term "external audit". How is this different from an audit performed by Audit and Inspection Commissioners?

Answer

Objective of an external audit

An external audit is implemented so that external auditors can perform audits independently while maintaining a third party viewpoint and double check on the operation of local governments.

Qualifications for external auditor

A certified public accountant, a lawyer or a person with certain other qualifications may be appointed as an external auditor under contract with the governor.

Types of external audits

• A comprehensive external audit is an audit which external auditors perform each year focusing on prearranged specific themes.
• In the case of petitioning an audit (on demand) of administrative affairs or a citizen petition for audit as mentioned in Question 10 above, the petitioner may ask for an audit to be performed by an external auditor. This is called an individual external audit..

Comprehensive external audit of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government introduced a comprehensive external audit beginning in fiscal year 1999.

To date there have been no individual external audits performed on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Question 12 How can we review or access the result of audits performed by Audit and Inspection Commissioners?

Answer

Anyone can access the results of recent audits performed by Audit and Inspection Commissioners through this website (available in Japanese only). Audit reports (in Japanese) may also be reviewed at the following places.