Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, address presented at the Australian National University

The audit objective was to determine the DVA's performance in the economy, efficiency and administrative effectiveness of the delivery of income support payments to veterans and war widows. It was found that overall, DVA is paying the correct pension to the correct people in a timely fashion within the required accuracy levels.

Closing the books processes sometimes referred to as 'month-end or year-end processing' are those processes undertaken by organisations in order to generate periodic financial information. This audit focused on the monthly closing the books processes undertaken at six of the material Commonwealth organisations, in order to provide some generic conclusions on the operation and effectiveness of these periodic processes in the Commonwealth and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Attorney-General's Luncheon

The audit reviewed the corporate governance framework of the Australian Electoral Commisson (AEC). The objective of the audit was to review whether the AEC's corporate governance framework was sound.

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

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented to the Australian Society of CPAs, Canberra

Mr Ian McPhee - Auditor-General for Australia, presented at the Queensland Regional Heads Forum

The objective of the audit was to assess the framework and systems that DHAC has in place to prevent, control, monitor, detect and investigate fraud. The ANAO concluded that DHAC had taken appropriate steps to protect Commonwealth resources under its administration from fraudulent misappropriation by developing a sound fraud control framework, the effectiveness of which is illustrated by the relatively low incidence of reported fraud in the department over the last few years. The framework also includes key elements for preventing and dealing with fraud in line with the Commonwealth's Fraud Control Policy.

The objective of the audit was to report to Parliament on the ATO's management of its performance reporting within the outcomes and outputs framework and to identify potential areas for improvement in specifying, measuring, administering and reporting under that framework.