The Auditor-General Act 1997 establishes the mandate for the Auditor-General to undertake financial statement audits of all Australian Government entities including those of government agencies, statutory authorities and government business enterprises.

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. The ANAO’s examination of these areas is designed to assess the reliance that can be placed on agencies’ internal controls to produce complete and accurate information for financial reporting purposes.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the establishment, implementation and operation of the Early Years Quality Fund against the requirements of the Early Years Quality Fund Special Account Act 2013 and the Commonwealth grants administration framework.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of spectrum reallocation to support the deployment of 5G services.

The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of the governance arrangements for the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS).

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s exercise of its regulatory functions.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s regulation of unsolicited communications.

This report outlines the ANAO’s assessment of the internal controls of major agencies, including governance arrangements, information systems and control procedures. The findings summarised in this report are the results of the interim phase of the financial statement audits of 24 major General Government Sector agencies that represent some 95 per cent of total General Government Sector revenues and expenses.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs monitoring and implementation of ANAO and internal performance audit recommendations.

An Audit Committee Chairs Forum was held on Friday 6 December 2024. The text on this page is the communique from the forum.

The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of the design and implementation of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (PM&C’s) evaluation framework for the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS), in achieving its purpose to ensure that evaluation is high quality, ethical, inclusive and focused on improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the selected entities:

• management of the delivery of projects awarded funding under four programmes where ANAO has previously audited the application assessment and selection processes; and
• development and implementation of evaluation strategies for each of those programmes.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of Industry’s administration of the Ethanol Production Grants Program, including relevant advice on policy development.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in managing compliance with fair trading obligations.

Given the significant expenditure associated with the Super Seasprites, and the problems that the Project had encountered over some time, the ANAO had commenced this performance audit prior to the Government's decision to cancel the Project. The focus of the audit was on Defence's and DMO's administration of the Project. In light of the Government's decision to cancel the Project, the objective of the audit was revised to place greater emphasis on those issues that resulted in the failure of the Project to provide the required capability, and highlighting project management lessons for major Defence acquisitions going forward.Accordingly the audit objective was to:

• identify those factors that contributed to the on-going poor performance of the Project;
• outline measures taken by Defence and DMO in seeking to overcome issues encountered by the Project, and key lessons arising from this project for the benefit of major acquisitions projects generally; and
• determine the capability and cost implications of a project that failed to deliver to expectations.

Fraud and Corruption Control Arrangements is targeted at Australian Government officials responsible for fraud and corruption control arrangements, and those engaged in program and policy delivery, including in grants administration and regulatory contexts.

This edition of Audit Insights summarises key messages from a series of ANAO performance audits assessing performance evaluation frameworks and success measures. It discusses the importance of both in keeping entities accountable and their performance transparent.

Grant Hehir, Auditor-General for Australia, attended the 18th Meeting of INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing in Bundung Indonesia in July 2018, and presented a keynote address titled Sharing experience on auditing urban environmental management. The accompanying paper to the speech is available here.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s administration of the Future Fit Program.

The objective of this audit was to assess whether the National Disability Insurance Agency has appropriate controls to ensure supports in participant plans are ‘reasonable and necessary’.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of administration of physical security in the revised Protective Security Policy Framework.

The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Defence’s arrangements for the management of contractors.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of Australian Financial Security Authority’s (AFSA) management of conflicts of interest.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the department’s management of non-compliance with the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 for unapproved therapeutic goods.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the NDIS Commission in exercising its regulatory functions.

The objective of the audit was to determine whether DIMIA's workforce planning systems are effectively supporting human resource management practices, which contribute to the efficient and effective achievement of project outcomes.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s (AITSL) administration of national standards and frameworks.

The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of the design and early implementation of the National Soil Strategy and the supporting National Soil Action Plan.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Environment and Energy’s design of the Threatened Species Prospectus.

The ANAO conducted separate audits of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) Children and Schooling program and the Safety and Wellbeing program, the findings and conclusions of which are presented in this report. The objective of the audits was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s and the National Indigenous Australians Agency’s administration of the IAS Children and Schooling and the Safety and Wellbeing programs.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the operations of the boards of four corporate Commonwealth entities in managing conflicts of interest.