The ANAO Corporate Plan 2019–20 is the ANAO’s key strategic planning document. It guides our operating environment and sets out how we will deliver on our purpose. This Quality Assurance Framework and Plan complements the Corporate Plan. It describes the ANAO Quality Assurance Framework and reflects the ANAO’s quality assurance strategy and deliverables for the coming year.

This first e-newsletter of the Commonwealth Auditors General Group was produced by Sir Amyas Morse, UK Comptroller and Auditor General as guest editor, along with the editorial team of the Auditors General of Australia, Fiji, Jamaica and Tanzania. Cybersecurity is the theme for this newsletter, with articles from the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Australia, Malta and the UK.

One of the main purposes of the e-newsletter is to share experiences and establish a dialogue based on the discussions that were started at the 23rd Conference of Commonwealth Auditors General in Delhi. For this edition the conversation is around ‘leveraging technology in public audit’, and it draws on international peers experiences and learnings from conducting cybersecurity audits.

The APS Code of Conduct establishes the standards of conduct required of APS employees. The APS Code of Conduct is set out in section 13 of the Public Service Act 1999 (the Act). The Act also sets out the APS Values and APS Employment Principles which apply to APS staff. [The APS Values, APS Employment principles and the APS Code of Conduct are at Attachment A]. A breach of the Code of Conduct constitutes misconduct.

A person who is or was an APS employee is also taken to have breached the Code of Conduct if the person is found to have provided false or misleading information in connection with their engagement as an APS employee [s 15(2A) of the Act is also at Attachment A].

The Auditor-General must, under subsection 15(3)(a) of the Act, establish procedures for determining breaches of the Code of Conduct by APS employees or former APS employees (suspected of having breached the Code whilst an employee in the ANAO or in connection with the person's engagement as an ANAO employee). It is a requirement that the procedures must comply with procedural requirements set out in the Australian Public Service Commissioner's Directions 2013 and must have due regard to procedural fairness.

The procedures may be different for: different categories of APS employees or former APS employees; or for APS employees or former APS employees who have been convicted of an offence against a Commonwealth, State or Territory law in respect of conduct that is alleged to constitute a breach of the Code of Conduct; or for APS employees or former APS employees who have been found to have committed such an offence but no conviction is recorded.