Members of Parliament appear to be coming around to the idea of a performance audit of the House of Commons. They've asked that the auditor general meet with them to explain her objectives.

Two weeks ago, the secretive, all-party Board of Internal Economy denied Auditor General Sheila Fraser's request to conduct a performance audit of the House and Senate.

Such an audit would investigate the systems in place that manage the $533 million budget of both chambers, to ensure the rules are being followed.

Government House Leader Jay Hill said Wednesday the Conservatives discussed Fraser's proposal at their weekly caucus meeting and have come up with a counter-proposal for a potential audit.

He declined to discuss the proposal's specifics with reporters, saying he would first like to present it to the opposition parties.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Wednesday all parties are open to an audit, but "we need to understand what the objective is."

Kenney cited a long-standing tradition that all parties work together to sort out questions surrounding the management of the House of Commons.

"That's why we've said we'd like to go to the Board of Internal Economy, discuss this with the other parties and come up with a position which probably involves sitting down with the auditor general and working out an approach that she's comfortable with," Kenney told CTV's Power Play.

Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay echoed the suggestion that Fraser meet with the board, which she suggested may have misunderstood Fraser's intentions.

It's unlikely Fraser will tailor her audit to what MPs want. In an interview Tuesday on Power Play, she said "you don't really negotiate an audit." But she did say she would answer any questions about her proposal.

"The audit could potentially include things like human resource management, management of information technology, security on the Hill, and of course there would be an element which would be financial management given the size of the budget," Fraser said.

"And potentially in there we would look to see what were the controls, what were the processes around reimbursing MPs expenses, and do a sampling of some to see if those rules were actually being followed."