As Auditor-General for Australia, I am pleased to present the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Corporate Plan 2025–26. This plan outlines how the ANAO will deliver on its purpose to support accountability and transparency in the Australian Government sector through independent reporting to the Parliament, and thereby contribute to improved public sector performance.

The Auditor-General is established as an independent officer of the Parliament under the Auditor-General Act 1997. This independence is fundamental to the ANAO’s role in providing impartial and credible information to assist the Parliament in holding the executive government to account.

The ANAO remains committed to delivering high-quality audit and support services to the Parliament, the public sector and the public. Constructive engagement is central to our ability to provide assurance, highlight risks and share insights that drive meaningful improvement in public administration.

A key focus for the ANAO in 2025–26 will be to support the 48th Parliament of Australia, particularly during its formation. Transitions between parliaments provide an opportunity for the ANAO to reinforce the importance of transparency, accountability and public sector performance and provide new and returning parliamentarians with timely, relevant and accessible information about our work. We look forward to supporting the re-establishment of the Parliament’s oversight and scrutiny functions, including the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA).

This corporate plan is built around the ANAO’s three strategic priorities that guide how we deliver on our purpose: having impact where it matters; driving performance through innovation; and inspiring and developing our people. These priorities will focus our efforts in our core services — including financial statements audits, performance audits, and performance statements audits — as well as lead to new initiatives to improve how we operate and manage our available resources sustainably.

The corporate plan should be read together with the annual audit work program, which reflects the ANAO’s audit strategy for the coming year. I look forward to working with the Parliament and the public sector to advance accountability, transparency and performance across the Australian Government sector for the benefit of all Australians.

Statement of preparation

As the accountable authority of the Australian National Audit Office under the Auditor-General Act 1997, I present the ANAO Corporate Plan 2025–26, which covers the period 2025–26 to 2028–29, as required under paragraph 35(1)(b) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

Dr Caralee McLiesh PSM
Auditor-General for Australia
11 July 2025

The purpose of the Australian National Audit Office is to support accountability and transparency in the Australian Government sector through independent reporting to the Parliament, and thereby contribute to improved public sector performance.

The ANAO delivers its purpose under the Auditor-General’s mandate in accordance with the Auditor-General Act 1997, the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and the Public Service Act 1999.

The executive arm of government is accountable to the Parliament for its use of public resources and the administration of legislation passed by the Parliament. The Auditor-General provides independent assurance as to whether the executive is operating and accounting for its performance in accordance with the Parliament’s intent.

Under the Auditor-General Act, the Auditor-General’s functions include:

• auditing the annual financial statements of Commonwealth entities, Commonwealth companies and their subsidiaries, and the consolidated financial statements;
• conducting performance audits and assurance reviews;
• auditing the annual performance statements and performance measures of Commonwealth entities and Commonwealth companies and their subsidiaries;
• conducting performance audits of Commonwealth partners as described in section 18B of the Act;
• providing other audit services as required by other legislation or allowed under section 20 of the Act; and
• reporting directly to the Parliament on any matter or to a minister on any important matter that comes to the attention of the Auditor-General.

Independence and quality are fundamental to our work. These values ensure that the Parliament — and, by extension, the Australian public — can trust that the ANAO provides accurate, objective and credible assessments of the performance and accountability of Australian Government entities.

The Auditor-General’s functions are a key component of the accountability and integrity framework, and form part of the core business of Australian public sector entities. The Act sets out the requirements for entities to engage with the Auditor-General in the carrying out of Auditor-General functions.

The ANAO supports the Auditor-General in this role. Information about the purpose, values and organisational structure of the ANAO is available on the ANAO website.

A summary of the ANAO’s purpose, impact, key activities and programs is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: ANAO’s purpose, impact, key activities and programs

The ANAO’s governance and strategic direction are underpinned by our strategic planning framework. The corporate plan is the ANAO’s primary planning document and covers the period 2025–26 to 2028–29. The annual audit work program (AAWP) sits alongside our corporate plan. The AAWP sets out our audit strategy for the financial year and informs the Parliament, the public and government entities of our planned audit coverage based on our view of risk in the sector, and with consideration of impact, the Parliament’s priorities, materiality and auditability.

From the corporate plan and AAWP, the ANAO’s annual priorities flow into group business plans, and then to individual performance agreements. The ANAO reports on its activities through its annual report.

The ANAO has developed a Strategy on a Page to highlight the strategic priorities we intend to pursue — it will be updated through our annual corporate planning process. The Strategy on a Page outlines three strategic priorities:

• Impact where it matters — keeping our purpose at the heart of all we do, ensuring our work supports the Parliament and contributes to meaningful improvement across the public sector.
• Performance through innovation — focuses on how we improve by embracing change, using data and technology wisely, and finding smarter ways to deliver high-quality audit work.
• Inspire and develop our people — recognises that everything we achieve depends on the capability, diversity and wellbeing of our workforce.

Impact where it matters

The ANAO supports the Parliament through independent reporting that is timely and accessible and strengthens public sector performance, transparency and accountability. Our work is designed to have impact where it matters most: helping the Parliament — and particularly the JCPAA — to scrutinise the use of public resources and hold government to account; and helping the public sector understand ways to improve performance. We are uniquely positioned to be able to identify and share insights from across the whole of the Australian Government sector. At the heart of this is our desire for our work to have a real impact on improving the performance of the public sector in delivering outcomes for people in Australia.

In 2025–26, we will seek further opportunities to ensure our work is understood and used to support accountability and better performance. We will assist in the establishment of the JCPAA in the 48th Parliament and in the briefing and support for new members and senators. We will seek to increase our parliamentary engagement and advice to assist members of parliament to understand and use our work. We will also strengthen engagement within the public sector to share insights and lessons from our work, through our communication with audited entities and whole-of-government policy owners, the APS Academy and, where possible, in partnership with other integrity agencies.

We seek to provide leadership and strengthen the audit profession by sharing expertise and building partnerships with our peers. Our role in the Integrity Agencies Group supports broader integrity efforts within the public sector, and our engagement with our international peer networks brings a public sector lens to global developments in audit, governance and accountability.

Using the right audit products at the right time ensures we focus on the areas of greatest strategic value, while managing our resources sustainably. In 2025–26, we will trial audit approaches for financial statements and performance statements audits that can be integrated to reduce duplication for both entities and the ANAO as well as support quality. Through this work, we will identify opportunities to integrate products into the future. We will seek to develop a ‘rapid review’ approach to performance auditing to enable a timely audit approach where appropriate, and examine how other audit products can evolve to maximise the impact of our work on better outcomes for people in Australia.

Performance through innovation

Creating an environment that enables innovation underpins our ability to improve our performance and maintain relevance, quality and responsiveness in a changing audit and public sector environment. We are embedding a culture of trust, collaboration and continuous learning to spark innovative thinking and drive change in pursuit of improved performance.

Our people will be empowered to innovate our audit products and processes — applying new tools, trialling fresh approaches and adapting methods. In 2025–26, we will use approved artificial intelligence (AI) tools and other technology within audit work to improve productivity while maintaining quality. Staff will have opportunities to design enquiries and approaches — using emerging technologies — to auditing, while applying safeguards through our quality protocols. We will apply thoughtful risk management through this journey to ensure responsible and effective adoption of emerging technology.

In 2025–26, we will also seek to identify opportunities to apply a greater focus on risk within all of our audit products, including adapting or reducing audit procedures in areas of low risk. This risk assessment work will complement our automation program, which will continue to deliver audit tools that support efficiency and quality by automating certain procedures. Innovation in audit procedures will enable our people to direct their skills towards more complex problems, recognising changes in public sector program delivery and audit complexity.

The ANAO must not only innovate internally, but we must also provide assurance over how public sector entities adopt and manage digital and emerging technology. This includes maintaining our capacity to audit cybersecurity and information governance, and adapting to the increasing digitisation of audit evidence and records. Our audit work also contributes to innovation in the public sector — by sharing lessons, insights and good practice that inspire new thinking and better ways of working.

Inspire and develop our people

Our people are our most important asset. We will develop and empower capable and adaptable leaders at all levels of our organisation — inspiring our people to perform with confidence, integrity and professionalism. Our goal is to build and sustain a workforce that is skilled, diverse and ready to meet the evolving demands of public sector auditing. Our culture is grounded in the values of integrity, respect and excellence — values that guide our behaviour and underpin our independence and credibility.

Auditors need technical skills, leadership skills and client relationship management skills. In 2025–26, we will seek to grow our people across these domains in order to provide more confidence, capability and flexibility for staff to work across audit products. We will continue to grow specialist expertise in highly technical areas. We will support our people to step across audit products to deliver the ANAO’s work program to the highest quality, taking account of their skills and expertise. During 2025–26, we will help our people be ready to undertake auditing of climate change disclosures by developing and delivering training and support for staff in this emerging area of audit focus.

As the auditing profession evolves, we will continue to identify and respond to workforce and capability risks. The ANAO Academy plays a central role in uplifting technical, digital and leadership capability across the office. During 2025–26, we will provide training to our people in the use of AI in audit work. Training will be required before staff use our enterprise-approved tools within audit work.

We also believe that a thriving, high-performing workforce depends on a culture of inclusion, wellbeing and support. The ANAO maintains a commitment to a positive employee experience and supporting wellbeing through flexible, activity-based working and wellbeing initiatives that help our people to thrive personally and professionally. We build and sustain capability by working together and celebrating success.

Environment

Over the coming year, significant features of the ANAO’s operating environment will include the establishment of the 48th Parliament, important challenges facing the public sector, and the effects on the audit profession of emerging technologies and competition for talent.

Supporting the 48th Parliament

Following the establishment of the 48th Parliament of Australia, we are taking deliberate and structured measures to engage with parliamentarians both new and returning — as well as committee chairs and secretaries — to ensure that the role and work of the Auditor-General and the ANAO is understood and valued. Through this effort, we aim to build the trust and confidence of the Parliament in the ANAO’s work.

Providing support and advice to the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) will be our primary focus for engagement with the new Parliament. The JCPAA has responsibilities with respect to reviewing our reports, providing views on the audit priorities of the Parliament, and reviewing our budget and making recommendations to the Parliament and the Prime Minister on the ANAO’s budget position. The JCPAA has long supported the independence of the Auditor-General including through recommendations on improving the Auditor-General Act 1997. Current funding does not support the delivery of 48 performance audits as recommended by the JCPAA. Targets for performance audit delivery have been reduced to between 38 and 42 audit reports for 2025–26 to enable the ANAO to deliver its mandatory audit functions.

Public sector

The public sector faces important challenges in the years ahead. Growing uncertainty globally, rising community expectations, new technologies, a need for fiscal restraint and increased productivity, alongside an ongoing need to further build trust in the public sector, present opportunities and challenges. Implementing the government’s agenda in this term of Parliament will require the public service to plan well, manage risks and engage with stakeholders to best achieve outcomes through the many dimensions of public sector delivery — policy advice, procurement, regulation, grants and other funding approaches, and asset management. Getting the basics right in all of these areas will be a continued focus for audit, with an eye to whether the activities of the public sector are meeting the intended outcomes. A willingness to learn and improve through scrutiny such as audit will be an opportunity for the sector in rebuilding trust and community confidence.

The desire for better experiences for the public and the need for efficiency in the sector requires thoughtfulness in how to apply technology to government services. Security, privacy and ethical use of information are essential considerations in the adoption of technology. Increasing digitisation of public sector services and use of new technologies, including AI, will create opportunities in audits bringing transparency to the Parliament and the Australian community. Likewise, innovation in policy and implementation design provide opportunities for audit approaches to adapt. Cross-sector approaches to implementation will require active governance and risk management, including a focus on lawful approaches and administration.

Audit profession

Emergence of new technology in the audit profession enables auditors to focus greater effort on complex issues that require sound judgement, insight and expertise. The ANAO will continue to connect closely with the profession to exchange and learn new approaches to the use of technology and to leverage training and development in new areas of audit such as climate change disclosures.

Competition for talent in the auditing profession continues to remain strong globally, driven by continuing community expectations for transparency and assurance. Our approach is to continue to grow our own people, including by giving them experience across our audit products and developing specialist expertise where we need it.

Our development of skilled audit professionals through our training and capability development programs makes these people highly desirable to other employers — we are mindful of the challenges this presents to retention. These challenges have prompted a greater focus on workforce planning and development, including a more purposeful consideration of development opportunities including secondments within the public sector and to other jurisdictions to grow our people. The ANAO will continue to connect with the public sector audit profession nationally and globally to continue to learn new ways to deliver our products and develop our people.

Capability and enablers

Maintaining integrity and independence, investing in our people, cultivating relationships, and continuously improving our technology, systems and processes are central to the ANAO’s capability.

Integrity and independence

The Governor-General, on the recommendation of the JCPAA and the Prime Minister, appoints the Auditor-General for a term of 10 years. The Auditor-General is established as an independent officer of the Parliament under the Auditor-General Act 1997. Independence is fundamental to the ANAO’s role in providing impartial and reliable information to assist the Parliament in holding the executive government to account. The Auditor-General is not subject to direction in how audits are selected, conducted or prioritised, and has complete discretion in the performance of audit functions.

Independence enables us to conduct audits objectively and in a way that is free from external influence, political pressure or conflicts of interest. Our integrity framework and annual integrity report seek to enable, maintain and monitor a high-integrity culture in the ANAO — assisting in ethical decision-making and the management of risk, fraud and misconduct. Continued focus on institutional independence enables the ANAO’s work to have impact.

The Auditor-General’s independence drives the ANAO’s approach to commissioning. The ANAO acknowledges the intent of the APS Strategic Commissioning Framework in rebuilding the capability and expertise of the Australian Public Service (APS) by requiring that core government work be done by APS employees. To deliver against the Auditor-General’s mandate, the ANAO will continue to use in-house audit teams as well as private sector audit firms to achieve the quality expected by the Parliament and timeliness required in the Commonwealth resource management framework. The ANAO maintains quality over audit work conducted by private sector firms through robust oversight, requiring contractors to adhere to ANAO auditing standards and methodologies, and subjecting their work to the same quality assurance reviews and performance monitoring as in-house audit teams. All signing responsibilities remain with the Auditor-General.

People and capability

The ANAO is an organisation of professional people with strong specialist and technical skills who perform increasingly complex and challenging audit work. We are committed to investing in our people and supporting their development as leading audit and public service professionals — making sure we have the right people in the right place at the right time.

Leadership

Leadership within the ANAO is grounded in both the APS Values and the ANAO’s values of respect, integrity and excellence. Values-based leadership is central to modelling the behaviours and standards we expect to see across the office, as well as within the broader public sector. Our leaders promote a positive culture that values independence, quality and public accountability, while supporting staff to perform with confidence and professionalism. Positive results in our staff survey indicate that leaders within the ANAO are well regarded. Continuing to grow our leadership strength is a priority. Under the ANAO’s updated leadership performance framework, leaders will be assessed equally on their leadership behaviours and delivery of outcomes.

Developing our people

Auditing is difficult work that requires discipline, resilience and strong analytical skills. Auditors are attractive to other employers due to these qualities and the need for skills in governance, risk management and assurance in the public sector. Attrition is typically high in the profession. To best manage attrition, we focus on investing in high-quality training and creating a great place to work.

The ANAO will focus its workforce planning for 2025–26 on ongoing technical, leadership and stakeholder engagement development, including training and development for staff in different audit products. The ANAO Academy enables our commitment to fostering a contemporary and continuous learning culture and our ability to ‘grow our own’ — in an environment where skills such as performance auditing and the auditing of climate-related disclosures need to be developed in-house. Staff are encouraged to also continue professional development in specialist auditing fields.

Culture and values

Providing a positive and supportive workplace culture for our people will mean a focus on wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and innovation. The nature of our work means we need and attract a diverse range of people — from different backgrounds, experiences and professions. In 2025–26, we will increase our focus on diversity in the workplace. We recognise that diversity is about encouraging fresh thinking, challenging the status quo and continuously improving how we operate and deliver value to the Parliament. People bring their best to their work when they feel valued, supported and respected. Supporting and embedding diversity, inclusion and innovation into our culture is a key priority for the ANAO, enhancing both the wellbeing of our people and the quality of our work.

Relationships and engagement

Maintaining productive relationships and engagement with the Parliament, the public sector, our public auditing peers and the wider auditing profession is essential to the ANAO’s work.

Parliament

The ANAO’s primary relationship is with the Australian Parliament and the ANAO’s key interaction with the Parliament is through the JCPAA. Among its responsibilities, the JCPAA considers the operations and resources of the ANAO, including the ANAO draft budget estimates, about which it makes recommendations to both houses of parliament. The JCPAA is required to review all ANAO reports that are tabled in the Parliament and to report the results of its deliberations to both houses of parliament.

The ANAO’s relationship with the Parliament and the JCPAA is guided by our Parliamentary Engagement Strategy. The strategy outlines how we will support the Parliament through independent assurance and the provision of audit products that inform scrutiny and decision-making. The strategy emphasises the importance of taking regard of parliamentary priorities and providing system-level insights aligned with the frameworks established by the Parliament, government and accountable authorities. It also seeks to promote confidence in the ANAO’s work by ensuring our services are evidence-based, timely and represent value for money. Key objectives include highlighting areas for improvement in public administration and communicating the role and utility of our work to parliamentarians.

Public sector

Purposeful and constructive engagement with the public sector assists in supporting the improvement of public sector performance. Our Public Sector Engagement Strategy sets out our approach to purposeful engagement with Australian Government entities. It aims to support the improvement of public sector performance by increasing awareness and understanding of our role and work, as well as compliance with legislation, mandatory frameworks and governance requirements.

A key component of this strategy is the translation of audit findings into whole-of-government lessons communicated through our Insights series. We also see significant value in direct engagement, and we hold forums twice a year to promote and strengthen public sector governance: the Audit Committee Chairs Forum and the Financial and Performance Reporting Forum. Throughout 2025–26 we will seek to strengthen our engagement with the public sector to maximise the impact of our work.

Learning from others in the public sector also assists us to improve auditing and development of audit products. The Auditor-General’s Performance Statements Expert Advisory Panel enables the ANAO to take advice from within the sector on the rollout of the performance statements audit product. The panel draws on diverse expertise in public administration, performance measurement, evaluation and auditing to help us identify improvements to the quality, clarity and usefulness of entity performance reporting. Regular liaison by the Auditor-General with sector leaders such as secretaries and agency heads provides an opportunity to stay across public sector developments.

Public auditing peers

As Australia’s supreme audit institution, the ANAO maintains close links with the international and regional public sector auditing community through the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI).

The ANAO contributes to the Australasian public sector auditing community through support of the Auditor-General’s role on the governing board of PASAI as well as membership of the Australasian Council of Auditors-General (ACAG). The independence of supreme audit institutions is a focus for audit offices nationally and globally — project work is underway through INTOSAI’s development initiative in collaboration with a range of organisations, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Research and benchmarking through ACAG assists the ANAO in providing advice to the Parliament on issues affecting operations, including independence, legislation and funding.

The ANAO invests in its national and international relationships to support learning through the two-way exchange and sharing of information and practices. It also supports other nations through peer-to-peer institutional capacity development, including through our participation in the Australian Government’s development program in the Indo-Pacific region.

Auditing profession

We maintain important relationships with private sector audit firms and professional bodies to support audit delivery, promote high standards and strengthen the auditing profession through our public sector audit leadership. Audit firms are engaged to conduct audit work on behalf of the Auditor-General and operate under the ANAO auditing standards, quality management framework and independence requirements.

The ANAO also engages with professional bodies such as CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) and — from time to time on an issues basis — with standard-setters including the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) and Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB).

The ANAO website contains further information about the ANAO’s relationships.

Technology, systems and processes

Our technology, systems and processes are key enablers of our work. Our quality management framework and planning processes support high-quality audit work and enable the Auditor-General to have confidence in the opinions and conclusions included in reports prepared for the Parliament.

In 2025–26, we are developing a digital strategy that sets out our ambition to be a data-enabled organisation with a strong digital culture and mindset. This includes a new policy on AI, to enable the safe and effective use of AI in audit as well as other ANAO work. Technology will support us to continue to drive efficiency and quality in our audit and supporting work, and more effectively measure the impact of our work on the sector. Our technology infrastructure enables the way we work, the outcomes we produce, how we connect to each other and how we engage with the public sector.

As a custodian of sensitive information, we will continue to enhance the ANAO’s security environment, with a focus on maintaining strong organisational cyber resilience and streamlining secure data governance, collection and classification methods. Information security is a key issue for the organisation given the information we hold.

The quality of ANAO audit work is reliant on the strength of our quality management framework and planning processes. There is a balance to be managed between making our audit procedures as efficient as possible while ensuring that the appropriate level of quality is maintained. Our Quality Management Framework and Plan 2024–25 sets out the ANAO’s quality objectives and the key policies and procedures that respond to identified quality risks arising in the nature and circumstances of the ANAO’s work. An audit quality report against each year’s quality management plan is published annually on the ANAO website — reinforcing the ANAO’s commitment to integrity, accountability and transparency.

Cooperation

The ANAO cooperates closely with the JCPAA and the Parliament more broadly, ministers, the Integrity Agencies Group and the owners of public sector frameworks.

Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit

In recent years, the ANAO and the JCPAA have developed a relationship built on cooperation, underpinned by a shared interest in strengthening public sector performance, integrity and accountability. The ANAO provides the committee with regular briefings, submissions and technical assistance and supports the committee’s inquiries through appearances at public hearings. The cooperative nature of these engagements support the JCPAA in its scrutiny of Australian Government administration, and in the development of system-level recommendations to government that are derived from independent, audit-based evidence.

The ANAO also cooperates with the JCPAA to determine the audit priorities of the Parliament, through the annual audit work program consultation processes.

Parliament of Australia

In addition to providing reports to assist the Parliament to carry out its functions, the ANAO cooperates with the Parliament to provide submissions, briefings and support — as well as appearances at parliamentary committee hearings — across the full spectrum of portfolio and policy areas. These contributions assist parliamentarians and parliamentary committees in examining issues of public administration and reviewing the performance of government programs. Auditor-General reports are frequently cited in committee inquiries and reports and inform parliamentary scrutiny and recommendations.

Senate estimates is the accountability process used by the Australian Senate to scrutinise government expenditure and the performance of Australian Government agencies — a key mechanism through which the Parliament holds the executive to account. The ANAO supports Senate estimates processes through the provision of tailored briefing packs relevant to the portfolio responsibilities of every committee, ahead of each session of Senate estimates. The ANAO is available to brief Senate estimates committees on these packs. Officers of the ANAO appear at relevant estimates hearings to respond to questions and provide evidence in support of effective parliamentary oversight. Questions that are taken on notice, or provided to the ANAO after hearings, are managed through a coordinated process and resources are allocated to ensure timely and accurate responses back to committees. Questions on notice taken by the ANAO in parliamentary committees are not subject to government clearances processes.

Australian Government

The ANAO supports the Australian Government by providing briefings, on request, on the work that we do. The ANAO provides briefings to ministers on tabled reports on request. The Auditor-General provides ministers with extra reports on important matters that arise through the conduct of financial statements audits and communicates with ministers on financial and other frameworks where audits provide opportunities for improvement. All ministers are provided information on the ANAO’s annual audit work program.

Integrity Agencies Group

The Auditor-General is a member of the Integrity Agencies Group. The group brings together leaders from Commonwealth integrity bodies to share insights, coordinate activity where appropriate, and collectively support the ongoing development of integrity frameworks. Through this cooperation, the Auditor-General and the ANAO play a key role in supporting integrity across the Australian public sector.

Through participation in the group, the Auditor-General shares observations and findings from our audit work that may be relevant to other agencies in the integrity system. In turn, we benefit from understanding broader trends, risks and developments across areas such as public sector ethics, fraud prevention, corruption, risk and integrity system maturity. This cooperation strengthens our capacity to focus audit effort on emerging integrity risks and influence improved public sector administration.

Our collaboration with integrity agencies complements our formal accountability to the Parliament and contributes to a strong system of checks and balances within government. It also reinforces the ANAO’s commitment to integrity as one of our core values and a key enabler of our strategic intent.

By working alongside other integrity bodies, the ANAO helps to build a more connected, informed and resilient public sector. We will continue to engage actively with our integrity peers to enhance the impact of our work and strengthen trust in government.

Owners of public sector frameworks

The ANAO audits entities against the frameworks established by the Parliament, the government and by accountable authorities themselves — including the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, Public Service Act 1999, Commonwealth Procurement Rules, Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles, and Protective Security Policy Framework. Our work seeks to identify whether entities are complying with both the requirements and the intent of these frameworks. Recent audit work has highlighted that there is often tension between these principles-based frameworks and the Parliament’s expectations for compliance and transparency.

We will continue to work with framework owners, including the Department of Finance in its role as the steward of significant public sector frameworks, to influence more robust oversight in areas such as resource management, grants, procurement, records management and cybersecurity. We are also working with the Department of Finance, as the policy owner of the Commonwealth Performance Framework, to support ongoing improvements to performance reporting and evaluation.

Risk oversight and management

The effective oversight and management of risk is integral to supporting the achievement of our objectives and purpose. The ANAO’s management of risk is embedded into business-as-usual practices and formalised through our Risk Management Framework 2025–27.

The ANAO’s Executive Board of Management continually monitors assessments of enterprise risks, taking into account our internal and external environments, and adjusting the ANAO’s risk appetite and risk tolerance to ensure our risk profile remains current and within tolerance.

During 2025–26, the ANAO’s approach to monitoring risk includes assessing risks associated with the establishment of the 48th Parliament and our relationship with it, the impact of our budget position on the delivery of our audit work program, and our ability to attract and retain a capable workforce to undertake our work. Other key risk areas include the security of the sensitive information we hold, and our ability to invest in the tools required to support auditing in a contemporary and productive way with the right impact for the Parliament and public sector. In addition, our ability to deliver new and emerging areas of audit, such as climate change disclosures and the increasing use of AI and technology, are risks that will need monitoring and focus. A revised set of enterprise risks will be in place in 2025–26, taking account of the priorities in this plan. We maintain a risk appetite of ‘low’ for matters relating to the reputation of our office and our ability to support the Parliament effectively, and ‘medium’ for matters that have the potential to improve our efficiency and effectiveness.

Further details on our approach to risk management is available in the ANAO’s Risk Management Framework 2025–27.

The ANAO has one purpose: to support accountability and transparency in the Australian Government sector through independent reporting to the Parliament, and thereby contribute to improved public sector performance.

Our performance measurement framework is based on measuring:

• what the benefits were of our work (effectiveness and impact); and
• what we did (output) and how well we did it (quality and/or efficiency).
• The Auditor-General’s functions are delivered through three programs. The selection of performance measures seeks to reflect the key activities we undertake to achieve our purpose, and to assess whether we have, through our work, had the desired impact. The measures are a mix of qualitative and quantitative. Our reporting against them is intended to tell a rich story of our achievements throughout the year, and importantly how the things we have done supported the Parliament and contributed to public sector performance while delivering high standards of quality.
• The ANAO’s annual performance statements are audited by the ANAO’s Independent Auditor, at the request of the Auditor-General.

Measuring impact

The ANAO recognises that good performance information should provide insight into not only what we do, and the efficiency and quality of our work, but also its impact. We measure impact in a number of ways.

Audit reports are tabled in the Parliament and used by the Parliament to scrutinise executive government. The frequency of their use can be an indicator of impact, as can follow-through action by the Parliament derived from ANAO work, such as the enactment of new legislation to correct or address issues raised by the Auditor-General. For 2025–26, we will monitor the Parliament’s use of ANAO products and the Parliament’s satisfaction with our work by requesting feedback from the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA). This feedback will provide a qualitative narrative against our measure of impact, and we will also demonstrate our consideration of the priorities of the Parliament as communicated by the JCPAA to further detail our impact.

Our audit work can also impact on the policy frameworks in place within the public sector. Public sector framework stewards and ministers make adjustments to frameworks to address issues and risks identified in ANAO reports. For 2025–26, we will monitor and track changes and adjustments to frameworks as a consequence of ANAO work and provide additional qualitative narrative of our impact.

Public sector impact also occurs at the entity level through the provision of audit findings and recommendations based on insights during the conduct of audits. Findings and recommendations are aimed at assisting entities to improve their performance reporting, internal controls and business processes. The ANAO measures the percentage of findings and recommendations to which entities agree without qualification and the timeliness of implementation.

Achieving high-quality standards in our audit work ensures strong support to the Parliament and the public sector. Quality is a cornerstone of the ANAO’s reputation and role. The ANAO’s quality management framework and series of controls is designed to provide assurance that our audits are conducted according to applicable and relevant standards, support the integrity of audit reports, and maintain the confidence and trust of the Parliament and public sector entities.

The performance measure and targets for the impact of our work from 2025–26 to 2028–29 are provided below.

Program 1.1 – Financial statements audit services

The ANAO audits the annual financial statements of all Commonwealth entities and the consolidated financial statements of the Australian Government. The consolidated financial statements present the consolidated whole-of-government financial result inclusive of all Australian Government–controlled entities, including entities outside the general government sector. These audits are designed to give assurance to the Parliament that each entity’s and the whole-of-government financial statements fairly represent their financial operations and positions at year end. Insights and findings from the financial statements audit services program are tabled in the Parliament twice a year, generally in May and December.

The ANAO also undertakes a range of assurance reviews by arrangement with entities, and in accordance with section 20 of the Auditor-General Act 1997.

The performance measures and targets for financial statements audit services from 2025–26 to 2028–29 are provided below.

Program 1.2 – Performance audit services

Performance audit services improve public sector performance by providing performance audit reports and other related products for the information of the Parliament, the executive government and the public. The ANAO’s performance audit activities involve the audit of all or part of an entity’s operations to assess its economy, efficiency, effectiveness, ethics, and legislative and policy compliance. Entities indicate their agreement to implement ANAO recommendations in the audit report, which is tabled in the Parliament. In this way, entities inform the Parliament of improvements they intend to make as a result of ANAO audits.

Performance audits are the major factor driving the number of ANAO briefings and submissions to, and appearances before, parliamentary committees. Performance audit work drives the development of other products such as insights and information reports. The Major Projects Report, a limited assurance review of Defence major projects, is also undertaken every year.

The performance measures and targets for performance audit services from 2025–26 to 2028–29 are provided below.

Program 1.3 – Performance statements audit services

Performance statements audits are designed to give assurance to the Parliament that an entity’s annual performance statements have been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the requirements of Division 3 of Part 2-3 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

The Commonwealth Performance Framework does not currently require audited entities to include the performance statements audit report in its annual report (as is the case for financial statements audit opinions). The ANAO continues to provide the Auditor-General’s independent assurance reports on entities’ annual performance statements to the Minster for Finance for tabling in the Parliament.

The ANAO also tables an end-of-year report reflecting on the outcome of the performance statements audit program for the financial year. The purpose of this report is to provide the Parliament with an independent view on the progress in improving non-financial reporting across the Australian Government.

The performance measures and targets for performance statements audit services from 2025–26 to 2028–29 are provided below.