Article 116 of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s constitution stipulates that “[a]n Audit Office shall be set up by law, and the law shall guarantee its independence. It shall assist the Government and the Council of Representatives in controlling the collection of State revenues and the disbursement of its expenditure within the budget limits. The Audit Office shall submit an annual report on its missions, with its views, to both the Government and the Council of Representatives.”
In 2001, the National Action Charter promulgated one of the most important pillars of the Institutional Reform Project led by H.M. King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa. In its Third Chapter, the National Action Charter aimed to strengthen the Kingdom’s commitment towards transparency and rational governance by instituting an independent audit system to scrutinize the financial and administrative conduct of public institutions.