The audit assessed whether Centrelink has effective Business Continuity Management and/or associated risk management procedures and plans in place that: minimise the likelihood of a significant business outage; and in the event of such an outage, minimise disruption of critical services to customers. The audit also assessed whether Centrelink services satisfy special community demands in times of emergency.

The audit reviewed the operations of the Bureau of Meteorology. The Bureau's functions include the taking and recording of meteorological observations and other observations required for the purposes of meteorology; the forecasting of weather and of the state of the atmosphere; the issue of warnings of weather conditions likely to endanger life or property; the supply, publication and promotion of meteorological information; and cooperation with international meteorological agencies in relation to the functions just listed. The objectives of the audit were to:

• use national and international benchmarks to evaluate the Bureau's performance in terms of timeliness, cost and quality of weather services to meet the needs of clients; and
• assess how well the Bureau is placed in measuring its outputs/outcomes within the context of the Accrual Budgeting Framework.

Physical Security Arrangements in Commonwealth Agencies, No.23 2002-2003 Protective security involves the total concept of information, personnel, physical, information technology and telecommunications security. The Commonwealth's Protective Security policy is outlined in the Protective Security Manual (PSM). It provides specific guidance to agencies on the protection of the Commonwealth's assets, personnel and clients from potential security threats. This audit evaluated the protective security policies and practices of seven Commonwealth agencies to determine whether they had established an appropriate physical security control framework based on the principles outlined in Part E of the Commonwealth's Protective Security Manual. The ANAO also examined whether agencies had considered the risks of, and developed an appropriate policy statement on, the physical security arrangements for employees who work from home.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of AusAID’s management of tertiary training assistance.

The objective of this follow-up audit was to assess Austrade's implementation of the recommendations contained in ANAO Report No. 4 of 1998-99 (Client Service Initiatives - Australian Trade Commission (Austrade)), and whether the implementation of the recommendations or appropriate alternative measures has improved the management and delivery of Austrade's client service.

The audit reviewed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's administration of consular services. It focussed on DFAT's travel advice to alert Australians to potential travel risks; case management systems to record and monitor action on more complex consular cases; performance information for the management of consular services; and contingency planning for major consular incidents. The audit also reviewed action taken by DFAT and other agencies to implement the recommendations of a 1997 Senate Committee report on consular services.

The focus of this audit was on those entitlements administered by Finance. Similar to the 2001-02 Audit Report, the audit scope did not include entitlements provided to persons employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (MOP(S) Act). It also did not examine the administration of entitlements provided through other agencies (such as Parliamentarians' salary and electorate allowance, which are paid by the Chamber Departments, and entitlements provided to Ministers by their home department).

The objective of the audit was to assess the management practices undertaken by APS agencies to achieve value for money and transparency in dealing with contracts for non-APS workers. The focus of the audit was on circumstances where agencies had a significant reliance on a non-APS workforce to assist in achieving their core functions. Regular reporting by agencies of expenditure on non-APS workers was outside the scope of this audit.

The objective of the audit was to report to Parliament on the progress Defence has made since June 2001 in implementing appropriate strategies for recruiting, developing and retaining skilled IT personnel. The audit focused on management of specialist information system skills and did not examine skills needed by users of information systems, although the latter is of obvious importance for overall performance. In June 2001, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA), after reviewing the ANAO's Audit Report No. 11 Knowledge System Equipment Acquisition Projects in Defence, commented that its major concern about Defence's ability to develop a knowledge edge with adequate coherence, centred on Defence's ability to recruit, develop and retain skilled individuals needed in all parts of the DIE. The JCPAA recommended that the ANAO conduct an audit of Defence's strategies for recruiting, developing and retaining skilled IT personnel.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the department’s strategic procurement of water entitlements to meet the Bridging the Gap target under the Basin Plan.