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The objective of the audit was to assess whether entities properly accounted for software assets, and adopted an integrated planning approach to inform software asset investment decisions.
The main focus of the audit was on whether entities accounted for software costs in accordance with relevant accounting standards and the FMOs, paying particular attention to the standard elements of an internal control framework and accounting practices. In addition, in the context of software asset planning, the audit considered whether entities assessed the risks associated with software assets, used life-cycle costing approaches, and aligned ICT and capital management plans, to inform decision-making on software asset investments.
The audit objectives were:
- to assess the effectiveness of the revised certification process in promoting compliance of government advertising campaigns (campaigns) with the March 2010 Guidelines on Information and Advertising Campaigns by Australian Government Departments and Agencies (2010 Guidelines);
- to assess the effectiveness of agency administration in developing campaigns and implementing key processes against the requirements of the campaign advertising framework;
- to assess the effectiveness of Finance’s administration of the campaign advertising framework; and
- to assess the effect on campaigns of an exemption from the 2010 Guidelines.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the ATO’s administration of external debt collection arrangements.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of Agriculture’s and Customs’ arrangements for the targeting and screening of incoming international mail to identify prohibited and restricted goods.
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The Australian National Audit Office has undertaken a pilot project to assess the status of the Australian Government performance measurement and reporting framework as a basis for implementation of a future program of audits of entities’ key performance indicators, and to develop a suitable audit methodology. This report presents a summary of the work completed to date.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the administration of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) financial industry levies.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) management and reporting of selected information relating to the goods and services tax and the fringe benefits tax.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office’s management of its property portfolio.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the extent to which FaHCSIA, DEEWR and DoHA seek to reduce service delivery risks posed by capacity constraints in Indigenous organisations.
The objective of the audit was to assess the appropriateness of the use and reporting of confidentiality provisions in a sample of Australian Government contracts.
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The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the administration of the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts and repayments.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the ATO’s compliance management approach in the SME market.
The objective of the audit was to assess the arrangements established by the Department of Education and Training to monitor the impact of Australian Government school funding.
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The audit objective was to assess how well agencies manage their websites. Particular attention was given to the audited agencies' website purposes, risk management and planning, policies, content management procedures, and performance monitoring and reporting. These elements provide the framework for the design, implementation and operation of websites.
The audit objective was to assess whether Australian Government agencies were effectively controlling the use of credit cards for official purposes.
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The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Human Services’ administration of the Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the appropriateness of the use and reporting of confidentiality provisions in Australian Government contracts for 2011.
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of DoHA’s administration in supporting the creation and development of health infrastructure from the HHF, including DoHA’s support for the Health Minister and the HHF Advisory Board.
The objective of the audit was to review the effectiveness and efficiency of Centrelink's customer feedback system and the progress Centrelink had made in implementing the recommendations of the 2004–05 audit and the subsequent JCPAA inquiry.
The audit objective was to assess the appropriateness of the use and reporting of confidentiality provisions in Australian Government contracts for the 2012 calendar year reporting period.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the ATO’s administration of DGR endorsements and associated arrangements.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s identity verification arrangements for applicants in the Citizenship Program.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s management of initiatives to supply low aromatic fuel to Indigenous communities.
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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.
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Parliamentary Committees, particularly Senate Estimates Committees, have for many years taken an interest in the use of consultants by Australian government agencies. In this context, and having regard to the extent of expenditure by FMA Act agencies on consultants, the objective of this audit was to assess the accuracy and completeness of Australian government agencies' reporting of expenditure on consultants.
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of agencies' contract management by determining if they had sound practices and systematic approaches to this activity. Particular attention was given to each agency's:
- day-to-day management of individual contracts; and
- approach to managing its contract population.
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 audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Social Services’ arrangements for managing Disability Employment Services provider agreements.
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The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the development and administration of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (5CPA), and the extent to which the 5CPA has met its objectives.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Employment’s administration of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the design and administration of the VET FEE-HELP scheme.
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The audit objective was to assess the appropriateness of the use and reporting of confidentiality provisions in Australian Government contracts. This included assessing compliance with the Order and following up on the implementation of recommendations made in previous Senate Order audits.
The audit involved three components:
- an examination of a stratified random sample of 150 contracts listed as containing confidentiality provisions from material and small agencies across the Australian Government to determine whether confidentiality provisions were used and reported appropriately;
- an examination of all FMA Act agencies' calendar year 2009 contract listings, and ministers' letters of advice, to assess compliance with the requirements of the Order, and check reported instances of excluded contracts; and
- a follow-up of the implementation of previous audit recommendations relating to the administration of the Senate Order in four agencies. The selected agencies were the: Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID); Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA); Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF); and the Federal Court of Australia (Federal Court). The selected agencies were audited in one of the ANAO's previous five audits of Senate Order compliance.
The objective of the audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s implementation of food security initiatives for remote Indigenous communities.
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The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the administration of tobacco excise and excise equivalent goods.
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The objective of this follow-up audit is to examine DEEWR's implementation of the six recommendations made in the ANAO's 2003 report. This audit has had regard to the issues underlying the recommendations, and new administrative issues affecting their implementation.
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health’s administration of the Medical Specialist Training Program.
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The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of the AFP's approach to its management of the implementation of NPIs.
This audit is the thirteenth in a series of audits that have fulfilled the Senate’s request for the Auditor-General to provide an annual report on agencies’ compliance with the Order, since it was introduced in 2001. The audit objective was to assess the appropriateness of the use and reporting of confidentiality provisions in Australian Government contracts.
The objective of the audit was to review the effectiveness of the department's administration of the PSPI. To achieve this, the ANAO considered the department's program planning and design, service delivery arrangements and monitoring, review and reporting activities. The decision which resulted in the replacement of ASSPA with PSPI was a policy decision of the Government and, thus, was beyond the scope of this audit.
The objective of the audit was to examine the effectiveness of Centrelink's approach to investigating and responding to external fraud. The ANAO's assessment was based on four key criteria. In particular, the ANAO assessed whether Centrelink:
- had established a management framework, business systems and guidelines, that support the investigation, prosecution and reporting of fraud;
- had implemented appropriate case selection strategies and controls to ensure resources are targeted to the cases of highest priority;
- complied with relevant external and internal requirements when investigating fraud and referring cases for consideration of prosecution; and
- had implemented an effective training program that supports high quality investigations and prosecution referrals.
This second audit report relating to SMSFs examines the effectiveness of the Tax Office's approach to managing SMSF compliance risks. Specifically the ANAO examined the processes the Tax Office uses to:
- identify the risks relevant to SMSFs not complying with their obligations under the SISA, including members accessing their superannuation early;
- mitigate SMSF compliance risks; and
- administer fund wind-ups.
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Ageing and the Australian National Preventive Health Agency in fulfilling the Commonwealth’s role in implementing the Council of Australian Government’s National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health, to achieve the Agreement’s objectives, outcomes and outputs, including supporting all Australians to reduce their risk of chronic disease.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the management of risks arising from the use of PSDs in selected Australian Government agencies. The PSDs included within the scope of this audit were: USB flash drives; CDs and DVDs; external hard drives; laptop computers and smartphones.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Project Wickenby taskforce in making Australia unattractive for international tax fraud and evasion by detecting, deterring and dealing with the abusive use of secrecy havens by Australian taxpayers.
The objective of this audit is to examine the effectiveness of the TGA’s administration of complementary medicines regulation in Australia. The primary focus is on listed complementary medicines, which comprise about 98 per cent of these medicines.
The audit objective was to report on the administration of the Australia Network tender process and to identify lessons learned from the conduct of the process to inform future procurement activities.
The objective of the audit was to assess the Department of Health and Ageing’s (DoHA’s) implementation and ongoing management of the Aged Care Complaints Scheme and the effectiveness of DoHA’s complaint management systems in supporting service delivery and regulatory outcomes.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of annual Certificate of Compliance processes for FMA Act agencies. To form a conclusion against the audit objective, the audit considered: Finance’s administration of the Certificate process at a whole-of-government level; selected agencies’ annual Certificate processes; and, the design and impact of the Certificate.
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of monitoring arrangements (by the Accreditation Agency) and compliance activities (by DoHA) put in place to achieve residential aged care homes’ compliance with the Accreditation Standards and their other, related, responsibilities under the Act and its associated instruments.
The ANAO’s assessment considered whether:
— a sector-wide compliance strategy was in place and aligned with effective monitoring and compliance activities at the operational level;
— there was a clear articulation of the separat but complementary roles and responsibilities of DoHA and the Accreditation Agency; and
— performance information gathered by both agencies to support public reporting and business improvements was useful and enabled comparison of performance over time.
The objective of the audit was to assess DoHA's effectiveness:
- in undertaking PIP program planning, program monitoring and review; and
- with Medicare Australia, in ensuring PIP program delivery to general practices and their medical practitioners.
In undertaking the audit, the ANAO considered the 12 incentives that comprised the PIP up to August 2009. The three most recently introduced incentives at the time of audit fieldwork, namely, Domestic Violence, GP Aged Care Access and eHealth incentives, were examined in greater detail and formed case studies to support audit analysis. The ANAO also sought views on the program administration from industry, including from general practices directly through an online survey.
With regard to accreditation of general practice, the audit scope did not include an assessment of the Standards nor the work of the bodies that undertake accreditation of general practices. The ANAO's focus on general practice accreditation related to DoHA's management of program entry criteria.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is responsible for regulating aviation safety in Australia, the safety of Australian aircraft operating overseas as well as for regulating and administering Australia's airspace. In September 2008, the Senate Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport presented a report on the Administration of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and related matters. That report made three recommendations, one of which requested an Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) audit of CASA's implementation and administration of the regulation of aircraft operators' Safety Management Systems (SMS'). ANAO agreed to this request with the objective of the audit being to assess CASA's implementation and administration of an SMS approach to regulating aircraft operators.
An SMS is a systematic approach to managing safety, which encompasses organisational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures. Amendments to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (commonly referred to as the Chicago Convention) made in 2006 require that contracting states regulate the SMS' of aircraft operators. As a contracting state to the Chicago Convention, Australia is required to mandate that aircraft operators implement an SMS.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office's activities to promote employer compliance with Superannuation Guarantee obligations.
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The focus of this audit was on those entitlements administered by Finance. Similar to the 2001-02 Audit Report, the audit scope did not include entitlements provided to persons employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (MOP(S) Act). It also did not examine the administration of entitlements provided through other agencies (such as Parliamentarians' salary and electorate allowance, which are paid by the Chamber Departments, and entitlements provided to Ministers by their home department).
The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of Defence and the DMO's management of procurement and through life support arrangements to meet the explosive ordnance requirements of the ADF, particularly the non-guided munitions requirements of Army. This included a review of the progress of Defence and the DMO in implementing the recommendations of ANAO Audit Report No.40 2005–06.
The audit objective was to examine whether the Department of Defence implemented a selection of agreed parliamentary committee recommendations and ANAO performance audit recommendations.
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The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of ARPANSA’s management of the regulation of Commonwealth nuclear, radiation facilities and sources, including ARPANSA’s compliance with its legislative requirements.
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The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of Finance’s administration of travel entitlements provided to Parliamentarians.
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This report complements the Interim Report on Key Financial Controls of Major Entities financial statement audit report published in June 2017. It 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 for the period ended 30 June 2017.
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