The institution is a supreme federal authority only as far as it administers internal tasks such as personnel affairs, management of buildings or clearance of travel expenses and the like.

Processing its core duties - auditing, reporting and counseling as external financial controllers - it is not part of the executive branch of Germany, but is positioned beyond the three classical constitutional powers.

From the third power, justice, it differs firstly by freely choosing the subject matters it intends to audit and secondly by not delivering legally binding rules, but by issuing recommendations.

The Bundesrechnungshof examines the financial management of the Federal Government, its various property funds and state-owned companies, carrying out sample audits of revenue and expenditure totalling over 500 billion Euros.

Its audit mandate also covers social security institutions and the activities of the Federal Government in private-law enterprises of which it is a shareholder.

In addition the Bundesrechnungshof submits an annual report ("Observations") to both Houses of the German Parliament, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, as well as to the Federal Government.

The Bundesrechnungshof may at any time submit special reports on matters of major significance to both Houses of Parliament, and to the Federal Government.