Our accountabilities in detail

APRA is accountable to the Australian Parliament in the following ways:

APRA's Annual Report is tabled in Parliament. The annual report includes performance reporting such as the Annual Performance Statement, as well as the Money Protection Ratio and Performing Entity Ratio. These ratios are indicative of APRA's supervisory performance.
The APRA Members and senior executives appear before Senate and House of Representatives Parliamentary Committees regularly each year. They also appear before ad hoc Parliamentary Committees and Inquiries to discuss and explain APRA’s activities.
APRA is subject to, and adheres to, the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act). The PGPA Act covers governance, performance, accountability and the management of public resources by Commonwealth departments and agencies.
APRA is required by Parliament to publish a Corporate Plan setting out information on APRA’s key strategies and activities over a rolling four-year period. This is complemented by an Annual Performance Statement under the PGPA Act, which is included in the Annual Report.
APRA is subject to, and complies with, the best practice regulation process administered by The Office of Impact Analysis. This includes cost/benefit assessments of regulatory changes.
APRA is subject to, and complies with, the Commonwealth Child Safety Framework. This includes undertaking an annual risk assessment and providing an annual statement of compliance.

APRA works closely with the Australian Government of the day. Government oversight of APRA's activities occurs in the following ways:

From time to time, the government issues APRA with a Statement of Expectations and APRA responds with a Statement of Intent. The most recent statements are available at Government expectations of APRA.
APRA holds regular meetings with the Treasurer and relevant Ministers to provide briefings on matters across banking, insurance and superannuation.
The government reviews APRA's annual budget and approves the levies that are imposed on industry each year to fund APRA's operations.
APRA engages with the Treasurer’s Financial Sector Advisory Council, which provides advice to the government financial sector policies and the performance of financial regulators.

APRA is also subject to a range of other oversight mechanisms which include the following:

The Australian National Audit Office audits APRA's annual financial accounts and undertakes ad hoc reviews of APRA's performance. These reports are tabled in Parliament and publicly available.
The prudential framework comprises legislation enacted by Parliament and administered by APRA. The prudential standards for banking and insurance may be disallowed by Parliament.
Specific decisions made by APRA under the industry Acts are ‘reviewable decisions’ with an internal APRA review. These decisions may also be appealed before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, information on how to request copies of documents that APRA holds is published on the Freedom of Information page and requests can be emailed to foi@apra.gov.au.
The International Monetary Fund periodically assesses APRA against international codes and practices, such as the Basel Core Principles for Banking Supervision and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors Core Principles for Insurance Supervision.
The Financial Stability Board conducts a periodic peer review of Australia, including APRA, on the implementation of financial sector standards and policies and their effectiveness.

Footnotes