This report re-examines the ways in which parliamentary committees can enhance democratic governance.

Revisiting a report first published 10 years ago, it looks at the ways in which Public Accounts Committees (PACs) work in practice, and considers whether they continue to fulfil expectations as important guarantors of good governance. Noting that PACs themselves, and our knowledge about them, have evolved substantially in the intervening decade, this volume examines the original concept of public financial accountability, noting its origins in the nineteenth century; evaluates the findings of the original study; analyses research data produced in the aftermath of the first report and considers the practices and challenges facing PACs in the second decade of the twenty-first century, such as capacity building, independence and information exchange.