Former PwC partner appointed new National Audit Office chief

Amyas Morse, a former global managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has been appointed Comptroller and Auditor General at the National Audit Office.

Amyas Morse will succeed current C&AG Tim Burr at the public spending watchdog, subject to approval by the House of Commons, at a date yet to be announced.

He will become chief executive of the NAO once parliamentary time has been found to pass the Government's draft Constitutional Renewal Bill placing reforms of NAO governance on a statutory basis.

The announcement of his appointment comes amid growing concern over delays to the legislative timetable for reforming how the NAO is run. In 2007, Sir John Bourn stepped down as C&AG after an expenses scandal.

Morse's appointment follows a selection process chaired by Commons Public Accounts Committee Chairman Edward Leigh, and including Treasury chief Sir Nicholas Macpherson, representing Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sir Andrew Likierman, recently appointed NAO board chairman elect, and Burr.

Leigh said: "The position of Comptroller and Auditor General is hugely important. Its independence is supported by the requirement for a nominee to be agreed by both the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, who is always from the Opposition.'

'I am confident that Amyas will lead the National Audit Office to new achievements and I look forward to working with him.'

Morse, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, led the Coopers and Lybrand practice in north of the border before moving to London to manage the London City Office, subsequently becoming executive partner of Coopers and Lybrand UK.

When PWC was formed, he became global leader of assurance practice, in audit and related services, and then global managing partner.

Morse became the Ministry of Defence's commercial director in 2006.