This is the second audit report under the Senate Order, which requires all Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) agencies to place on the Internet, lists of contracts of $100 000 and more by the tenth day of the Spring and Autumn sittings of Parliament. It relates to the audit of the contract information to be listed on the Internet by the tenth day of the Autumn 2002 sitting. The audit involved a desktop review of all FMA Act agencies' Internet listings; and a detailed review at six selected agencies, of the process for making the Internet listings, and the policies and practices for determining confidentiality provisions in contracts.

To improve educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians, two main forms of assistance administered by the Commonwealth, namely the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP) and the Indigenous Education Direct Assistance programmes (IEDA), are currently available. The objective of the audit was to assess whether the department had efficiently and effectively managed the development and implementation of the IESIP agreements for the 2001 to 2004 quadrennium.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the National Health and Medical Research Council's governance and administrative systems. In order to achieve this objective, the audit addressed three criteria to determine whether the Council had: identified its legislated responsibilities and monitored its legislative compliance; a sound corporate governance framework to support the performance of its legislated functions; and established robust administrative systems to support the performance of its legislated functions.

The Auditor-General (A/g) responded on 24 September 2015 to correspondence from Senator Glenn Lazarus on 10 September 2015 regarding National Stronger Regions Fund.

The audit examined the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency Ltd's management of the residential aged care accreditation process. The audit focused on the Agency's implementation of a process to meet its legislative responsibilities, its business operations, people management, budgeting practices, use of information, and its quality assurance processes.

The objective was to assess the extent to which staff reductions have been managed in a sound strategic and cost-effective manner consistent with the Government's guidelines and the ANAO's 1996 better practice guide Managing APS Staff Reductions. The audit focussed on 3 agencies - the Australian Taxation Office, the former Department of Primary Industry and Energy, and the former Department of Transport and Regional Development. The ANAO found that the majority of staff reductions were achieved through retrenchment rather than natural attrition; and that decisions on the number of retrenchments were not always supported by an assessment of the impact of the reductions on the agencies' abilities to conduct their business.

This audit is a follow-up to ANAO Audit Report No.31 1995-96 Environmental Management of Commonwealth Land: Site Contamination and Pollution Prevention (‘the original audit'). The objectives of the follow-up audit were to determine: the extent to which Defence has implemented the agreed recommendations contained in the original audit (relating to its environmental management and the management of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on non-Commonwealth land) and; the effectiveness of the implemented recommendations in improving the environmental management of Commonwealth land.

The purpose of the report was to report to the Parliament on how effectively and efficiently the Australian Taxation Office administers the Tax File Number System, and to identify opportunities for improvement of that system. The ANAO developed a methodological framework for the evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the ATO's administration of the TFN system. The framework examined the TFN system; individuals and their TFNs; TFN withholding tax arrangements; and TFN information matching.

This audit considered the action taken in relation to the recommendations of Audit Report No.47, 1991-92, Energy Management of Commonwealth Buildings. The objective of this follow-up audit was to assess whether the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, the Department of Administrative Services, and the Department of Finance had taken appropriate action in relation to the recommendations. The audit criteria were the extent to which the original recommendations agreed by the agencies had been implemented and what had been achieved.

This report is the aggregate financial statement for the Commonwealth prepared by the Minister for Finance.