The audit addressed administration of migrant settlement services by DIMA, in particular:

• strategic management, including corporate planning, performance measurement and reporting arrangements; and
• operational management of some of the individual schemes operated by DIMA (the Adult English Migrant Program and Translating Interpreting Services were not covered as part of this audit).

The objective of the audit was to ascertain how efficiently and effectively the ATO administers sales tax collections. The audit excluded an examination of the Australian Customs Service's sales tax administration, although it did examine coordination and liaison arrangements between the ATO and ACS. The audit approach involved analysing the ATO's performance against the five elements of the ATO's established compliance improvement process, namely:

• interpreting and clarifying sales tax law;
• identifying and understanding clients and markets (enabling tax officers to identify and analyse risks of non-compliance);
• providing education and information to clients regarding sales tax obligations, based on identified compliance risks;
• implementing administrative arrangements which ensure and/or assist taxpayers to meet their obligations; and
• detecting non-compliance and taking action to remedy instances of non-compliance.

The audit objectives were to establish whether Comcare took an effective leadership role in helping to manage the cost of occupational stress to the Commonwealth; and whether agency management of occupational stress was efficient and effective. The ANAO criteria for the audit focused on how well Comcare understood the impact of occupational stress across APS employment, and supported agencies in their management of the disability. They also dealt with how well agencies understood and measured the impact of stress, and planned for its prevention or minimisation.

The objective of the performance audit was to assess the administrative effectiveness of DIMA's business entry program against the background of the Business and Temporary Entry program objective, with particular regard to whether:

• the existing performance management mechanisms and compliance monitoring strategies support the achievement of program outcomes and outputs;
• the quality of decision-making;
• business processes facilitate prompt visa decision-making consistent with program objectives; and
• decision-making support mechanisms promote robust and timely decision-making.

The objective of the audit was to determine the extent to which the new Commonwealth services delivery arrangements were implemented efficiently and effectively. The audit focussed on the establishment of Centrelink to deliver services on behalf of purchaser departments and the development of associated purchaser/provider arrangements.

The objectives of the audit were to determine the administrative changes made by the Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) to implement the recommendations of recent administrative reviews and to identify how well the ATC is meeting its statutory objectives. The criteria used in conducting the audit included administrative improvements resulting from the ATC's response to recent reviews and the extent to which strategies and performance information address its statutory objectives.

The main objectives of the audit were to examine DOTARS' response to the heightened threat environment following the events of 11 September 2001, and to determine the extent to which DOTARS' monitoring and compliance regime ensures that the aviation industry complies with its security obligations. The scope of the audit included:

• the respective roles and responsibilities of the organisations involved in aviation security;
• the setting of security settings; DOTARS' monitoring of airport, airline and cargo security;
• the action DOTARS takes in response to security breaches; and
• evaluation of aviation security.

The objective of the audit was to assess the administrative effectiveness of Australian Customs Services (Customs) drug detection strategies for air and containerised sea cargo and small craft activity. Within the scope of the audit, the following areas were examined :

• intelligence and law enforcement cooperation;
• air and containerised sea cargo;
• cargo examinations and technology;
• small craft activities;
• Customs funding arrangements (including funding for NIDS initiatives): and
• governance, including performance reporting.

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.

In view of the significant level of investment by Commonwealth agencies in the implementation and production of Financial Management Information Systems (FMISs), the ANAO, in conjunction with Gartner, undertook a benchmarking study within the Commonwealth budget sector with the objective of determining and reporting on FMIS:

• implementation and production costs; and
• implementation timeframes.

The benchmarking study also provides some data on resource support, size, volume and utilisation of the FMIS information. These data and metrics have significant implications for FMIS product selection. This study follows on from ANAO Audit Report No.12 'Selection, Implementation and Management of Financial Management Information Systems in Commonwealth Agencies', which was tabled in September 2001. That report provided details of the results of FMIS selections and implementations across the same eight Commonwealth budget sector agencies (the Commonwealth peer group) considered in this benchmarking study.