The Auditor General, at his discretion, decides on the scope of audit, and in this regard, he is guided by the prevailing standards as introduced in terms of the provisions in the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Act No. 15 of 1995 and conventions and best practices relating to audit as adopted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka(ICASL), the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions(INTOSAI), the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI), and the guidance provided by the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) and the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) of Parliament.
Further to that as regards Public Corporations, the Finance Act, No. 38 of 1971 defines the scope of audit to be considered by the Auditor General in relation to Public Corporations in more specific terms and it requires the Auditor General to render three distinct statutory reports viz. a detailed report to the management of the Corporation, a report for publication together with the Annual Report of such Corporation and another separate report to Parliament. The scope of the audit as defined in the Finance Act requires the Auditor General to examine as far as possible and as far as necessary the following.