Auditor General for Wales

{{Short description|Welsh public office}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox official post

|post = Auditor General for Wales

|flag = Flag of Wales.svg

|flagsize = 110px

|flagborder = yes

|flagcaption = Flag of Wales

|incumbent = Adrian Crompton

|incumbentsince = {{start date and age|2018|7}}

|member_of = Audit Wales

|nominator =

|appointer = Monarch of the United Kingdom

|reports_to = Senedd

|constituting_instrument = [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/32 Government of Wales Act 2006]

|termlength = 8 years

|formation = {{start date and age|2005|2}}

|inaugural = Jeremy Colman

|website = {{url|https://www.wao.gov.uk/about-us/whos-who/adrian-crompton}}

}}

The Auditor General for Wales ({{Langx|cy|Archwilydd Cyffredinol Cymru}}) is the public official in charge of the Audit Wales, formerly known as the Welsh Audit Office, the body responsible for auditing the Welsh Government, its public bodies, National Health Service bodies and local government in Wales. The Auditor General for Wales is responsible for auditing £20 billion of taxpayers' money each year.

It is a statutory appointment made by His Majesty The King, in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 8 to the Government of Wales Act 2006.

The first full-time Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman, was appointed on 1 April 2005 for an initial 5-year term subsequently extended in 2009 for a further 3 years. Colman resigned in February 2010 after an internal investigation at the Wales Audit Office{{cite web |url= http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/03/03/former-auditor-general-charged-with-making-indecent-images-91466-25957153/|publisher= Media Wales|title= Former Auditor General charged with making indecent images|accessdate=3 April 2010}} and subsequently pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images of children.{{Cite news |date=2010-11-01 |title=Ex-Wales auditor general admits child image offences |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11664265 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102192658/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11664265 |archive-date=2010-11-02 |access-date=2020-10-06 |work=BBC News |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation}}

Interim Auditor General, Gillian Body, took responsibility for running the Office{{cite web|url=http://www.wao.gov.uk/whoweare/theauditorgeneralforwales.asp |publisher=Wales Audit Office |title=The Auditor General for Wales |accessdate=3 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522010930/http://www.wao.gov.uk/whoweare/theauditorgeneralforwales.asp |archivedate=22 May 2010 }} prior to the appointment of Huw Vaughan Thomas, from 1 October 2010. In the aftermath of the jailing, the chair of the Assembly's public accounts committee commented that the Office would recover and that a "golden future lay ahead" for the Office.{{Cite news |date=2010-11-20 |title=Audit Office will recover after ex-head's jailing, says AM |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11800675 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406101132/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11800675 |archive-date=2024-04-06 |access-date=2024-10-06 |work=BBC News |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation}}