The function of the committee is to examine the estimates included in the budget and suggest ‘economies’ in public expenditure. Its major functions are:
- To report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency and administrative reform consistent with the policy underlying the estimates, can be affected
- To suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration
- To examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates
- To suggest the forth in which the estimates are to be presented to Parliament