Our Annual Plan describes the comprehensive programme of audit that we will deliver over the coming year to provide the public, the Senedd, decision-makers and influencers with the information and assurance they need about how well public money is being spent. 

2026-27 will be a year of change for Audit Wales, where we see Adrian completing his eight-year term as Auditor General for Wales. The Senedd has voted in favour of the nomination of Catherine Mealing-Jones as the next Auditor General. We congratulate Catherine and look forward to working with her to ensure a smooth transition when Adrian hands over the reins in July. 

The next 12 months is also the last year of our existing five-year corporate strategy. We are proud of the progress we have made over the last four years towards achieving our ambitions of sharpening audit delivery and increasing our impact and visibility. Some notable achievements are set out in this document. Delivery of the remaining priorities remains paramount: 

• Working closely with the local government sector to share good practice and help rebuild a sustainable and timely accounts process. 
• Shortening the timeframe for the completion of local performance audit work to ensure timely and impactful reporting. 
• Building effective relationships with the new Senedd and Welsh Government following the May 2026 Senedd elections. 
• Increasing the digitalisation of audit through using artificial intelligence and other tools that enhance the quality, productivity and efficiency of our work. 

None of our objectives for high-quality public audit can be achieved without our staff. Over the coming year, we will continue to provide an excellent, flexible employment offer that supports employee wellbeing and a working environment that encourages collaboration and high-quality work. As we do each year, the Board has also reviewed and updated our framework of key performance indicators and associated targets, to ensure they remain fully aligned with our objectives and are suitably challenging.

Alongside our traditional PDF report, we’ve also published an interactive, summarised web version of our Annual Plan on our website.