Board and staff

• Board members: individual tasks, joint responsibility
• Extraordinary Board members
• Appointment of the Board
• Secretary-general in charge of 300 staff
• The Court of Audit's staff: different backgrounds and well educated

Board members: individual tasks, joint responsibility

The Court of Audit's Board consists of three members who are appointed for life. The Board works on the principle of joint responsibility. This means that all decisions are taken by the Board, not by its president alone or by an individual Board member. Each member of the Board, however, acts as rapporteur for part of the Court of Audit's work.

The Board's members are:

• Saskia J. Stuiveling, President
• Gerrit de Jong, Vice President
• Kees Vendrik, Vice President 

Extraordinary Board members

In addition to the three Board members, there are two extraordinary Board members who may be called upon to take part in certain activities. They can be asked, for example, to supervise audits, carry out external activities or deputise for a Board member. Extraordinary Board members usually fulfil these duties in addition to their normal occupations. If they deputise for a Board member, extraordinary members have the same powers as the other Board members. The extraordinary members of the Board are:

• Paul Doop
• Mark van Twist

Appointment of the Board

The Court of Audit informs Her Majesty and the House of Representatives as quickly as possible of any vacancy arising on the Board. Following a public application procedure, the Court draws up a list of six candidates, who are interviewed by the Committee on Government Expenditure. Further to a secret vote, the House of Representatives then makes a binding proposal of three candidates to the government. The House is not bound by any recommendation made by the Court of Audit. The new Board member is appointed by Royal Decree for life (i.e. 70 years).

Secretary-general in charge of 300 staff

The Court of Audit has the services of a secretary-general, Ellen van Schoten, who is in charge of the 300 staff.

The Court of Audit's staff: different backgrounds and well educated

Given the highly complex matters the Court of Audit has to deal with, it should come as no surprise to learn that 80% of our staff are educated to university or higher vocational level. And because their work is so diverse, our staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds such as public administration, sociology, accountancy, political science, history, Dutch, law and economics.