The objective of the audit was to examine the Department of Defence’s (Defence's) implementation of agreed recommendations made in Auditor-General Report No. 38 of 2017–18 Mitigating Insider Threats through Personnel Security and the related report provided to ministers under section 37(5) of the Auditor-General Act 1997, and by the Parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) in Report 479 of 2019 Australian Government Security Arrangements.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) 2016-20 Corporate Plan is the primary strategic planning document, and outlines how the ANAO intends to deliver against the purpose over the coming four years.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of governance and integrity arrangements for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF). 

The objective of the audit was to examine whether the design and early delivery of the Australian Government's $443.3 million partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has been effective.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Government’s personnel security arrangements for mitigating insider threats.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office’s administration of capital gains tax for individual and small business taxpayers.

The aim of Insights: Audit Lessons is to communicate lessons from our audit work and to make it easier for people working within the Australian public sector to apply those lessons.

This edition of Insights: Audit Lessons is targeted at risk practitioners and officials responsible for government operations, projects, programs, services and regulatory activities. It would also be useful for accountable authorities, their senior executives and audit and risk committees.

This edition of Audit Insights summarises key messages for all Australian Government entities from a series of recent Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) performance audits assessing the delivery of key components of the Australian Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses the importance of planning, good governance and sound risk management in managing an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Social Services’ arrangements for managing Disability Employment Services provider agreements.

The ANAO provided a case study to SAI Russia, as a follow-up to the Moscow Declaration SAI Russia is publishing a collection of case studies and best practices of strategic approach to public auditing. The case study was titled Using data analytics for risk-based performance audit planning.

The audit’s objective was to determine if the Bureau of Meteorology’s processes support the delivery of effective extreme weather services.

This report is the first of two reports each year and focuses on the results of the interim audits, including an assessment of entities’ key internal controls, supporting the 2022–23 financial statements audits. This report examines 27 entities, including all departments of state and a number of major Australian government entities. The majority of entities included in the report are selected on the basis of their contribution to the income, expenses, assets and liabilities of the 2021–22 Consolidated Financial Statements.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Education’s design and implementation of programs and initiatives to improve the access and participation of regional and remote students to higher education.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) publishes two reports annually addressing the outcomes of the financial statement audits of Australian government entities and the Consolidated Financial Statements (CFS) of the Australian Government to provide Parliament an independent examination of the financial accounting and reporting of public sector entities. This report focuses on the results of the interim audit phase, including an assessment of entities’ key internal controls, of the 2016–17 financial statements audits of 25 entities including all departments of state and a number of major Australian government entities.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Efficiency through Contestability Programme in supporting entities to improve the efficient delivery of government functions.

Records Management is targeted at all Australian Government officials. It also benefits those in information management roles.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health’s approach to improving and monitoring immunisation coverage.

The objective of the audit was to assess the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s effectiveness in responding to non-compliance with plant and animal biosecurity requirements.

Quality in the delivery of the ANAO’s audit services is critical in supporting the integrity of our audit reports and maintaining the confidence of the Parliament and public sector entities. The ANAO Corporate Plan 2024–25 is the ANAO's primary planning document. It outlines our purpose; the dynamic environment in which we operate; our commitment to building capability; and the activities and performance measures by which we will be held to account. This Quality Management Framework and Plan complements the Corporate Plan. It describes the ANAO’s system of quality management and reflects the ANAO's responses to quality risks for the coming year.

The ANAO Quality Management Framework is the ANAO’s established system of quality management to provide the Auditor-General with reasonable assurance that the ANAO complies with the ANAO Auditing Standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and reports issued by the ANAO are appropriate in the circumstances.

The Quality Management Strategy and Plan component of this document identifies the ANAO’s quality objectives and key responses to address identified quality risks and to provide the Auditor-General with confidence that those responses are implemented and operating effectively.

The ANAO reports on the audit quality indicators that measure the ANAO’s performance against target benchmarks in the annual Audit Quality Report published on the ANAO website. The Audit Quality Report also provides transparency with respect to the implementation and operation of the responses to address quality risks for each component of the ANAO’s system of quality management.

Grant Hehir, Auditor-General for Australia, attended the Institute of Internal Auditors-Australia ‘Public Sector Internal Audit Conference’ on 31 July 2018, and presented an opening keynote session titled Strategic governance of risk: Lessons learnt from public sector audit. The accompanying paper to the speech, which was delivered against a conference theme of ‘internal auditor as a trusted advisor’, is available here.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the administration of grants for the Try, Test and Learn Fund transition projects.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the evaluation of selected Australian Government pilot programs.

This report complements the interim phase report published in June 2014 (Audit Report No.44 2013–14), and provides a summary of the final audit results of the audits of the financial statements of 251 Australian Government entities, including the Consolidated Financial Statements for the Australian Government.

The audit objective was to examine whether Airservices Australia has effective procurement arrangements in place, with a particular emphasis on whether consultancy contracts entered into with International Centre for Complex Project Management (ICCPM) in association with the OneSKY Australia project were effectively administered.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health's strategies for managing a communicable disease emergency.

This report complements the interim phase report published in August 2016, and provides a summary of the final results of the audits of the Consolidated Financial Statements for the Australian Government and the financial statements of Australian Government entities.

Under section 57 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) the Auditor-General is required to report each year to the relevant Minister, on whether the financial statements of agencies have been prepared in accordance with the Finance Minister's Orders (FMOs) and whether they give a true and fair view of the matters required by those Orders.

Our interim audits of agencies encompass a review of governance arrangements related to agencies' financial reporting responsibilities, and an examination of relevant internal controls, including information technology system controls. An examination of such issues is designed to assess the reliance that can be placed on internal controls to produce complete and accurate information for financial reporting purposes.

The objective of this audit was to assess the extent to which the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (Agriculture) has addressed the recommendations from ANAO Audit Report No. 46 of 2011–12, Administration of the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS).

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) strategies and activities to address the cash and hidden economy.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness and value for money to date of the Department of Defence’s acquisition of combat reconnaissance vehicles under project Land 400 Phase 2.