Michael Grade, the BBC chairman, announced the move in an interview with The Independent. He said accountancy firm Ernst & Young had been drafted in to carry out the audit in response to criticism of the corporation's financial control systems, although he declined to elaborate.
He said: "I want some outside comfort that our systems are fit for their purpose. I've heard criticism."
Grade declined to give details about the nature of the criticism other than to say it did not relate to any individual.
"It's not about efficiency. It's about financial controls. It only needs one rogue in any organisation to bring the place into disrepute," Grade added.
The BBC chief also used the interview to go some way to diffusing a long running war of words with the former director general, Lord Birt, who is now an adviser to the prime minister and is understood to have opposed Grade's appointment.
Grade admitted he had been "immature" in allowing the row to get personal, adding: "John did a lot of good things here that I am beginning to appreciate now."
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