As well as thinking twice before booking posh restaurants and upgrading airfares, Tim Burr will see through reforms of the National Audit Office, including a tightening of its corporate governance procedures. But he is likely to face calls from within Whitehall to go further.

The NAO has a great reputation for drawing attention to waste and extravagance within government. However its reputation for sharing best practice is less good.

And in that sense its more regional equivalent, the Audit Commission, enjoys a much better reputation. The commission (under the stewardship of Steve Bundred; it's too early to say whether he might make a worthy successor to Sir John) may have a less toothy reputation than the NAO, but when it comes to disseminating best practice in efficient public service delivery, it has few equals.

(Apropos of very little, I did enjoy the journalists in newspapers today who sought to gently bury Sir John while simultaneously admitting to enjoying lunch at the taxpayers' expense. In fairness at an average of £154 a time, they must have been good lunches).