The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of Regional Australia’s management of the design and implementation of the first application round of the RDAF program.

The establishment of a new infrastructure program to fund projects identified by Regional Development Australia committees in regional areas was one of the initiatives established to deliver on the Government's September 2010 agreement with the Independent Members for Lyne and New England. The program was to fund projects that support the infrastructure needs and economic and community growth of Australia’s regions.

The objectives of the audit were to examine the Australian Bureau of Statistics' management of the procedures and processes associated with the planning and operational aspects of the 1996 Census to ascertain: whether the results of the 1991 Census evaluations were used to improve the 1996 Census; whether the Census could be undertaken more efficiently while still yielding data of the required quality; and how privacy concerns were being satisfied by the processes employed. The scope of the audit was limited to reporting on the efficiency and effectiveness of the management by the ABS of the development, collection and initiation of the processing phases of the 1996 Census. The ANAO conducted an assessment of the procedures and processes used in the 1996 Census against the ABS performance indicators and by an examination of ABS documentation. The audit did not seek to review the ABS statistical methodology.

On 23 February 2016 the ANAO held its first CFO Forum - The Results of the 2014-15 Financial Statement audits. The Forum presented an opportunity to provide an overview of the end of year report tabled in Parliament in December 2015, the issues which arose during 2014-15, and the focus areas for the ANAO’s reporting to Parliament in 2015-16.

The objective of this audit was to establish whether Defence has developed sound fraud control arrangements that are consistent with better practice and fulfil its responsibilities for the protection of public property, revenue, expenditure, and rights and privileges from fraudulent exploitation.

The audit objective was to examine whether the design and conduct of the procurement process for delivery partners for the Entrepreneurs’ Programme complied with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, and whether the signed contracts are being appropriately managed.

Mr Ian McPhee - Deputy Auditor-General, presented to the Public Service and Merit Protection Commission (PSMPC)

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the management of cyber security risks by three government business enterprises or corporate Commonwealth entities. The entities selected for audit are ASC Pty Ltd, the Australian Postal Corporation and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The objective of this audit was to assess the Private Health Insurance Administration Council's (PHIAC's) administrative effectiveness as a regulator of private health insurance. In making this assessment, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) addressed the following criteria: whether PHIAC monitored compliance with its legislative requirements and analysed related data; whether PHIAC addressed and managed non-compliance with its legislative requirements; and whether PHIAC's governance and organisation supported the performance of its legislative functions. Although the Department of Health and Ageing (Health) also has a role in the regulation of the private health insurance industry under the National Health Act 1953 (Health Act), Health's regulatory activities were outside the scope of this audit.

The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of Medicare Australia's administration of the PBS. In assessing the objective, the audit considered three key areas:

• Medicare Australia's relationship with the PBS policy agency (DoHA) and service delivery policy agency (Department of Human Services (DHS));
• the management arrangements and processes underpinning Medicare Australia's delivery of the PBS (including the means by which Medicare Australia gains assurance over the integrity of the PBS); and
• how Medicare Australia undertakes its three main responsibilities relating to the delivery of the PBS, namely: approving pharmacies; approving authority prescriptions; and processing PBS claims.

The objective of this audit is to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of procurement reforms — follow on from Auditor-General Report No. 5 2022–23 Digital Transformation Agency’s Procurement of ICT-Related Services.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the CPA Australia National Public Sector Convention : Overview and Panel Discussion by Auditors General

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of administrative arrangements for YA, including service delivery. The ANAO assessed DEEWR's and Centrelink's performance against three main criteria:

• objectives and strategies for the ongoing management and performance measures for YA provide a firm basis for measurement against outcomes (Chapters 2 and 3);
• YA services delivered are consistent with legislative and policy requirements, (Chapter 4); and
• monitoring arrangements provide appropriate information for assessing service delivery performance (Chapter 5).

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.

This edition of audit insights outlines key messages from a series of recent audits examining the effectiveness of governance boards in four corporate Commonwealth entities. The audit observations from this series of audits relate primarily to the ‘soft’ attributes of effective governance such as relationships, behaviours and culture, while also recognising the important interplay with the ‘hard’ attributes of governance such as board composition, appointment processes and independence. The key messages may be relevant for the operations of other Commonwealth boards as well as broader governance arrangements in Commonwealth entities.

This is a follow-up audit to Audit Report No. 16, 1995-1996, Assessable Government Industry Assistance. This audit examined whether the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) had implemented the appropriate balance of compliance strategies to ensure that Australian Government Industry Assistance (AGIA) is adequately identified, disclosed to the ATO, and the revenue collected in an efficient and administratively effective manner. The objective of this audit was to report on the action taken by the Australian Taxation Office in addressing the recommendations of the 1996 Audit Report.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Public Service and Merit Protection Commission Senior Executive Service (SES) Breakfast Seminar Series

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of FaHCSIA's management of the Australian Government's responsibilities under the NPARSD. In this respect the ANAO considered whether:

• planning processes enabled effective establishment of the remote service delivery model;
• implementation of the key elements of the remote service delivery model effectively addressed the quality and timing requirements of the NPARSD; and
• performance measurement systems were developed to enable the parties to the agreement to assess whether the NPARSD objectives are being met.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented to the PA Congress 1997:'CPAs for Today and Tomorrow', Adelaide

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, Occasional Paper

The audit objective was to examine the effectiveness of Snowy Hydro Limited’s governance arrangements for early implementation of Snowy 2.0, the expansion to the Snowy Hydro Scheme.

The ANAO corporate plan 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 priorities, activities and performance measures by which we are held to account. This Quality Assurance Framework and Plan 2021–22 complements the corporate plan. It describes the ANAO Quality Assurance Framework and reflects the ANAO's quality assurance strategy and deliverables for the coming year.

The ANAO Quality Assurance Framework is the ANAO’s established system of quality control 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 Assurance Strategy and Plan component of this document identifies the key activities that the ANAO conducts to provide the Auditor-General with comfort that the controls established within the Quality Assurance Framework are implemented and operating effectively.

The ANAO reports on the audit quality indicators that measure the ANAO 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 processes, policies and procedures that support each element of the ANAO Quality Assurance Framework and the achievement of the quality assurance strategy and deliverables set out in the Quality Assurance Framework and Plan.

The objective of this audit was to assess how effectively the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) administers the science and technology work it undertakes for the Australian Defence Organisation.

The audit examined whether the Department of Home Affairs implemented all agreed recommendations from parliamentary committee and Auditor-General reports within the scoped timeframe.

The audit objective was to form an opinion on the effectiveness of the NHMRC's grant administration. To meet this objective the NHMRC was assessed against four criteria:

• the NHMRC's governance arrangements provide appropriate accountability that it is meeting its objectives and obligations to Government (Chapter 2);
• there are strategic and systematic processes for developing and implementing grant programs (Chapter 3);
• the NHMRC manages grants post-award effectively, and complies with legislative requirements and program directives (Chapters 4 and 5); and
• the NHMRC monitors and evaluates its business to demonstrate that outcomes are being met (Chapter 6).

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at a Joint Seminar by IPAA and ASCPAs as part of a Panel Discussion on 'Governance and the Role of the Senior Public Executive', Canberra

The objective of this audit was to examine whether the selected entities within the Attorney-General’s portfolio have implemented all agreed recommendations from parliamentary committee and Auditor-General reports within the scoped timeframe.

The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Attorney-General’s Department’s design of the Data Retention Industry Grants program, including performance monitoring, reporting, evaluation and assurance arrangements.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Tax Office's compliance approach for high risk income tax refunds in the individuals and micro enterprises market segments. The audit examined three key areas:

• management and organisational arrangements relating to high risk income tax refund processes;

• processes and procedures for identifying high risk income tax refunds, and the processes and tools used to evaluate and verify taxpayers' entitlements to income tax refunds; and

• information technology systems, processes and controls supporting the processing of income tax returns and refunds.

The objective of the audit was to evaluate the Tax Office's corporate management of data matching, including analytics.

The ANAO examined the Tax Office's strategic goals and governance arrangements for data matching and analytics, its compliance with privacy requirements and whether the Tax Office is achieving intended results, which include revenue collection, optimised compliance and provision of improved services to taxpayers.

Tax Office executives have been increasingly drawing on the interrelationships and conceptual commonalities of Tax Office data matching and analytics activity. Accordingly, the audit included these relationships and conceptual commonalities within the scope of the audit. The audit was guided, therefore, by a broader definition of ‘data matching': meaning ‘finding relationships and patterns in large volumes of data'. This includes the more traditional idea of data matching as ‘bringing together data from different sources and comparing it'.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether, in relation to appeals to the SSAT and the AAT, Centrelink undertakes its role effectively, so as to support the timely implementation of the Tribunals' decisions about customers' entitlements. In assessing Centrelink's performance, the ANAO examined whether:

• the information provided by Centrelink, in relation to appeals to the SSAT and the AAT, effectively supported customers' and Tribunals' decision-making;
• the relationships and administrative arrangements between Centrelink, DEEWR and FaHCSIA supported the effective management of the appeal process and the capture of issues that may have broader implications for legislation, policy and service delivery; and
• Centrelink implemented SSAT and AAT decisions in an effective and timely manner.

The audit focused on the external review and appeal mechanisms and completes the cycle of audits on Centrelink's review and appeal system. The audit examined those appeals where an implementation action was required and did not consider SSAT and AAT appeals that were dismissed, withdrawn or were not within the Tribunals' jurisdiction.