Current Guides



Implementing Better Practice Grants Administration
21 June 2010

Since 1994, the ANAO has published a Better Practice Guide on the administration of grants to encourage better administrative outcomes. This latest version of the Guide has been prepared to reflect the enhanced legislative and policy framework for grants administration that came into full effect on 1 July 2009. The new framework includes a number of mandatory requirements, as well as outlining, in the Commonwealth Grant Guidelines (CGGs), various better practice principles.

This revised Better Practice Guide has been designed to complement the CGGs by providing a companion reference point that will assist decision-makers and administering agencies to implement the new policy requirements and related guidance, which have a particular focus on decision-making processes for the awarding of grants.

Planning and Approving Projects - an Executive Perspective
11 June 2010

The successful delivery of government programs requires the projects that underpin their implementation to be well-managed from the point of inception through to full implementation.

This Guide provides an executive perspective on the planning and approval stage of projects for Australian Government entities. The Guide focuses on the most common types of projects – those aimed at program delivery, and on internal business operations. The Guide:

  • discusses the role of executives in project planning and approval and typical elements of the project lifecycle;
  • describes better practices in the overall arrangements of an entity for the planning and approval of projects, including aspects of strategic planning, people and culture, and governance;
  • describes better practices for senior executives in the planning and approval of individual projects, including clarifying the project concept, preparing a business case and project approval; and.
  • provides an overview of implementation issues for projects.

Download Word version of checklists

To view tips to save time when using this PDF, such as convenient search, navigation, and display features, click HERE.

Innovation in the Public Sector
01 December 2009

Innovation in a public sector context has been defined as the ‘creation and implementation of new processes, products, services and methods of delivery which result in significant improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness or quality of outcomes’. In short, innovation is the application of new ideas to produce better outcomes.

Supplements to this Better Practice Guide

To download the Better Practice Guide please click on the link below

SAP ECC 6.0 Security and Control
26 June 2009

This guide is intended to assist Australian Government entities to strengthen security and controls within SAP for all version up to ECC 6.0. It will be a useful guide to assist entities that are looking to:
• identify and assess business impacts that may arise as a result of control weaknesses;
• increase awareness of risks to security and control within SAP;
• strengthen system security controls and ensure that user access to key transaction codes and authorisation objects are appropriately restricted and segregated;
• implement better practice procedures to improve delivery of financial processes.

This guide covers those modules of SAP that are most likely to be implemented by public sector entities. They are: Procurement and Payables; General Ledger; Human Resources; Basis; Controlling; Project System; and Asset Accounting. In addition, the guide contains several supplementary feature articles on emerging topic areas, including: implementing effective access control to the SAP Governance, Risk and Compliance module; and issues for consideration when implementing financial shared services or grants management.

Preparation of Financial Statements by Public Sector Entities
23 June 2009
Better Practice Guide
Financial statements are an important means of demonstrating how the public sector, both at individual entity and whole-of-government level, meets its financial management responsibilities.
Templates and Checklists (Toolkit) - Preparation of Financial Statements by Public Sector Entities June 2009
23 June 2009

The attached ZIP file contains the templates and checklists from Part Four of the Preparation of Financial Statements by Public Sector Entities Better Practice Guide which can be downloaded below.

The ANAO has supplied these files for people to use and modify to suit their individual circumstances.

The documents will be downloaded in a Zip file format.

Business Continuity Management - Building resilience in public sector entities
04 June 2009

Business continuity management is an essential component of good public sector governance. It is part of an entity’s overall approach to effective risk management, and should be closely aligned to the entity’s incident management, emergency response management and IT disaster recovery. Successful business continuity management requires a commitment from the executive to raising awareness and implementing sound approaches to build resilience.

This Guide has been produced following consultation with Australian Government and private sector entities. The Guide provides a refreshed version of a previous ANAO Guide. The new version is presented in a more user-friendly format, and includes contemporary practical advice, case studies and references as well as exploring issues within the business continuity environment that have arisen since the previous ANAO publication.

The Guide will be a useful reference document for boards, chief executives and senior management in public sector entities.

Developing and Managing Internal Budgets
27 June 2008
The internal budget is a fundamental element of an organisation’s financial management framework. Specifically, well-designed and managed internal budgets help in establishing clear financial strategies, identifying realistic financial controls, understanding costs, and monitoring and reporting financial performance.

The purpose of this Better Practice Guide is to assist organisations better manage internal budgeting activities. It discusses a range of principles and techniques designed to embed internal budgeting in an organisation’s planning, control and accountability systems. It also discusses the importance of direct input from operational managers in the development and management of the internal budget.

This Guide updates the Better Practice Guide titled Internal Budgeting issued in February 2003. It reiterates many of the better practices in the former Guide and takes into account developments in financial management and budgeting affecting Australian Government organisations since the release of the previous Guide.
Agency Management of Parliamentary Workflow
26 May 2008

The purpose of this Better Practice Guide is to assist agency officers in managing their parliamentary workflow activities. This edition reviews and updates the contents of the previous Guide, released in 2003. It includes new material, for example:

  • areas of better practice that have been introduced by agencies since 2003;
  • contemporary issues, such as an increased use of technology in managing parliamentary workflow, that are impacting on the operations of parliamentary workflow units; and
  • updated central guidance that is appropriate to the conduct of parliamentary workflow activities.

It covers a range of strategic and operational tasks involved in managing parliamentary workflow, for example establishing processes to ensure effective senior oversight and leadership of this work and preparing ministerial speeches, briefings and media releases.

In addition to the downloadable PDF document, this is the first better practice guide to also be available in HTML format.

Public Sector Internal Audit
24 September 2007
This Better Practice Guide provides guidance about the operation of a better practice public sector internal audit function. In the ANAO's experience, better practice entities consider an appropriate level of investment in internal audit to be an essential business decision. These entities recognise a well resourced and effective internal audit function can play a key role in its governance arrangements. In preparing the Guide the ANAO recognises that the responsibilities of internal audit vary considerably across public sector entities, as do internal audit organisational arrangements and the way internal audit services are delivered. As such, the Guide includes relevant issues and considerations that entities should take into account in determining the roles and responsibilities of internal audit as well as setting its future directions and work plans. Part 2 of the guide includes a model internal audit charter and the Toolkit at Part 3 of the Guide includes a number of example forms, checklists and other tools that entities are encouraged to customise and use to assist in reviewing and managing their internal audit functions. The Guide updates and replaces the Guide published by the ANAO in 1999.
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