[4] These performance audits, known as the Auditor-General's Report provide members of parliament with objective evidence to help them examine the government's activities and hold it to account and improve good governance among public officers included.

Sylvain Ricard, having been previously the deputy auditor general, was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 29, 2019, to serve until a permanent replacement was selected.

The commissioner is empowered under the 1995 amendments to the Auditor-General Act to receive "petitions on environmental and sustainable development matters and [to] require ministers to respond to them".

The role of auditor general was introduced in 1878 and prior to the creation it was the head of the audit board (1867–1878).

In 1971, the auditor general's office hosted VII INCOSAI, the seventh triennial convention of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.