Performance
The primary performance measures for financial statement audit reports relate to the number of opinions issued, timeliness and cost. Measures of quality are discussed under ‘Contribution to Outcomes’.
Number and type of opinions issued
The number of audit opinions issued for the 2005–06 financial statement audit cycle,20 in comparison to previous periods, is illustrated in Figure 5.21
Figure 5: Number of outputs from the financial audit process
During the 2005–06 audit cycle we issued 242 audit opinions. This compares with 246 opinions in the 2004–05 audit cycle. Separate reports were also provided to Ministers on the results of all financial statement audits.
Timeliness of issuing opinions
Issuing audit opinions on the day the financial statements are signed, or shortly thereafter, assists agencies in meeting their own management and annual report commitments. For the audit cycle, 87 per cent of opinions were issued on the day the financial statements were signed or within two days, compared to 79 per cent for the previous audit cycle.
The time taken to issue audit opinions after the date of signing the financial statements for the last six years is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Timeliness of issuing audit opinions
Completion with agreed timelines
We plan our financial statement audits so that audit clearance and audit opinions are issued in accordance with Australian Government timelines. In the 2005–06 year, the Department of Finance and Administration set audit clearance for material entities at 30 July.22 For the 2005–06 financial year, 80 per cent of material entities were able to provide full audit clearance to the Department of Finance and Administration in accordance with the requirements established under the Budget Estimates and Framework Review. This compared to 76 per cent in 2004–05.
Cost of financial statement audits
Financial statement audits (Output Group 3.1) for the 2006–07 financial year required approximately 196 577 hours and consumed $38 155 million of resources (198 000 hours and $39.255 million respectively in 2005–06).
Cost of assurance audit services
Overall, the Assurance Audit Services Group charged 209 357 hours in 2006–07, generating $29.276 million in notional cost recovery and actual revenue against actual costs of $28.296 million (222 347 hours in 2005–06 generating $30.114 million in notional cost recovery and actual revenue against actual costs of $29.308 million).
20 The actual number of audit opinions is dependent on government and entity decisions on entity structures. We have issued opinions on all relevant entities except for six audits of companies where the audit opinion will be issued in 2007–08.
21 For the financial year ending 30 June 2007, the audit cycle is completed around November 2007. This means we report the results of 2005–06 final financial statement audit cycle in this report.
22 Due to the timing of the financial statement audits cycle, this data relates to the 2005–06 financial year.