In March 2006 he was appointed the first Independent Advisor on Ministerial Interests by Tony Blair, to advise ministers on potential clashes between their public duties and private affairs, and to investigate any claims that the rules have been broken.
The Council and its Boards are engaged in international discussions with financial services regulators in the US, France, Germany, the European Commission and other countries.
[7] Bourn was a part-time teacher at the London School of Economics from the time he was a graduate student, serving as a visiting professor from 1983 to 2013.
He continued to teach at the School on executive and custom programmes, with particular reference to students and participants from overseas, including India, Indonesia, China and Hong Kong, Brazil, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Spain.
[5] 15 months after becoming Comptroller and Auditor General, in April 1989, Bourn announced a National Audit Office inquiry into the Al-Yamamah deal.
[5] Bourn was criticised by opposition parties and the media over his high spending, such as an overseas trip that ran up taxpayer costs of more than £16,000.
In September 2008 the magazine published a special report, 'The Bourn Complicity', alleging that under his leadership numerous government expenditure failings escaped scrutiny while Bourn (frequently accompanied by his wife) went on unnecessary and extravagant foreign trips, and accepted lavish hospitality from contractors.
It emerged that Bourn travelled to and from his office in Victoria, London in a chauffeur driven vehicle at the taxpayers' expense.
When Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs investigated these as taxable benefits, Bourn was found liable for six years of unpaid taxes - but the outstanding sum of about £100,000 (including a fine) was settled by the NAO out of taxpayers' money.
[13] In October 2015, Private Eye highlighted how criticisms of Bourn's expenditure had been removed from Wikipedia, citing right to be forgotten.