The objectives of the Australian National Audit Office's (ANAO) performance audit were to: examine the efficiency and effectiveness of agencies' procurement and management of legal services arrangements; determine adherence to Australian Government policy requirements; examine the effectiveness of the OLSC's monitoring of agencies' compliance with Government policy requirements; examine the OLSC's role in assisting agencies to comply with Government policy.

The objective of this audit was to provide an independent assurance on the effectiveness of Defence's management of the acqusition of armoured infantry mobility vehicles (IMV) for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The audit sought to identify the initial capability requirements; analyse the tendering and evaluation process; and examine the management of the project by Defence. As such, this was not an audit of contractor performance, but of the formation and contract management of the aquisition project by Defence.

The audit focuses on DMO's equipment acquisition and support, at the system program management level. The objective of the audit was to assess the adequacy of Defence's capital equipment project definition, approval, acquisition and logistics support management. The SPOs subject to audit are:Aerospace Systems Division's Tactical Fighter Systems Program Office (TFSPO), which is responsible for acquisition and logistics support management of the Air Force's F/A-18 and Hawk 127 fleets and associated equipment. TFSPO is located at Williamtown, NSW; Land Systems Division's Track Manoeuvre Systems Program Office (TMSPO), which is responsible for the acquisition and logistics support management of Army's Leopard Tanks and M113 Armed Personnel Carrier fleets. TMSPO is located in Melbourne;Electronic and Weapon Systems Division's Over-the-Horizon Radar Systems Program Office (OTHRSPO), which is responsible for acquisition and logistics support management of the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) and Jindalee OTHR systems. OTHRSPO is located within the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) precinct at Edinburgh, South Australia; and Maritime Systems Division's Fast Frigate Guided System Program Office (FFGSPO), which is responsible for the support and upgrade of the Navy's FFG fleet. FFGSPO is located at Garden Island, Sydney.In view of the significant role that DMO's SPOs play in managing major capital equipment acquisition projects, the audit includes a case study of the $1.448 billion Fast Frigate Guided (FFG) Upgrade Project. A high level of audit assurance is not able to be provided on the FFG Upgrade Project given deficiencies in the FFGSPO information management systems and deficiencies in the level of design and development disclosure provided to SPO personnel by the FFG Upgrade Prime Contractor. The ANAO was unable to access appropriate audit evidence on the financial expenditure associated with the FFG Upgrade Project, and the Project's approved Equipment Acquisition Strategy.

The audit surveyed a wide range of Commonwealth agencies' Year 2000 preparedness, their management of the problem and their application of core corporate governance principles, including risk management disciplines. The scope of the audit reflected the wide ranging ramifications of the Year 2000 problem for agencies' overall functions (whole-of-business) internally as well as in terms of external interactions. The audit objectives were to:

• assess the adequacy of agencies' planning in relation to achieving Year 2000 compliance;
• review and assess agencies' implementation, management and monitoring of Year 2000 compliance strategies;
• review agencies' strategic risk assessments in relation to the Year 2000 changeover; and
• raise surveyed agencies' and other Commonwealth agencies' awareness of the various aspects of the Year 2000 problem.

The objective of the audit was to express an opinion on the effectiveness of HOP management having regard to: compliance with applicable Australian Government policies; compliance with internal guidelines to assist loans officers to assess applications and manage loans; and programme performance reporting.

The objective of the preliminary study was to form a view regarding the quality of, and controls over, the Budget estimates and to inform the decision whether to proceed to a full performance audit at this time. On the basis of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the budget process undertaken during the study, the ANAO concluded that there are no apparent systemic problems in the cash-based estimating processes in the agencies reviewed that would, in themselves, lead to material statistical inaccuracies in the Budget's projected outcomes. The ANAO decided not to proceed with a full performance audit at this time.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of Defence’s monitoring of the implementation of ANAO and internal audit recommendations. The audit also examined a sample of ANAO and internal audit recommendations—reported as being complete by Defence—to assess the extent to which these recommendations had been implemented by Defence.

The overall objective of the survey was to assess key aspects of fraud control arrangements in place across the APS against Commonwealth Law Enforcement Board (CLEB) guidelines. This assessment aimed to provide assurance to Parliament that agencies had a suitable framework in place to assist in effectively preventing and dealing with fraud and to indicate to APS agencies any areas for improvement identified in the survey.

The main objectives of the audit were to assess the management and administration of the payment of accounts function in the Commonwealth and to identify, develop and report better practice to promote overall improvements in public administration.

This report summarises audit and other related activities of the Australian National Audit Office in the period July to December 1998.