Taxation rulings are a key mechanism used by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to disseminate the Commissioner of Taxation's interpretative advice on Australian taxation law. The objective of the audit was to:

report to Parliament on the operation of the ATO's administration of taxation rulings (public, private and oral rulings); and where appropriate, make recommendations for improvements, having regard to considerations of: efficiency and effectiveness of the ATO's administration of the rulings system, particularly in relation to the achievement of the objectives set by Parliament for the rulings system; the ATO's systems' capacity to deliver consistency and fairness for taxpayers; and good corporate governance, including the control framework.

The overall objective of this audit was to assess the management of the physical protection of Australian missions and staff overseas. The high-level criteria for the audit are set out at Appendix 1 of the report.

The study examined aggregated benchmarking measures of cost, efficiency quality and better practice for nineteen Commonwealth organisations and compared the results with that of an international group. The objective of the study was to obtain and report on over time quantitative and qualitative data relating to finance function activities as they operate in Commonwealth organisations.

The objectives of the audit were to:

• review the implementation arrangements in relation to the transfer of the delivery of AUSTUDY to Centrelink and its subsequent inclusion as part of the Youth Allowance; and
• to form an opinion on the efficiency and effectiveness of the front-end processing aspects of AUSTUDY applications.

The audit evaluated the effectiveness of the accountability and oversight arrangements for statutory bodies within the former Primary Industries and Energy portfolio (most of which are now part of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio). The audit focused on accountability of the statutory bodies to the Minister and through the Minister to Parliament; it did not directly address accountability to industry stakeholders and levy papers.

The audit examined some key aspects of HRD in relation to Centrelink's Customer Service Officers (CSOs). The objective of the audit was to determine whether Centrelink had appropriate systems and strategies in place to ensure that its CSOs had access to the skills and knowledge necessary to meet expected levels of performance and customer service.

The objective of the audit was to assess the Australian Taxation Office's approach to client service and the provision of particular client services to Individuals Non-Business clients. The INB business line deals primarily with the tax affairs of individual taxpayers. Audit criteria were developed which examined the ATO's:

• commitment to client service and understanding of client needs and expectations;
• client service strategy and delivery of client services and products; and
• measurement and achievement of service quality and client satisfaction.

The Superannuation Guarantee, which came into effect on 1 July 1992, was introduced to reduce reliance on the age pension as a means of funding retirement for individuals. The objective of the performance audit was to review the ATO's administration of the Superannuation Guarantee and to identify appropriate opportunities for improvement.

Aviation traffic data plays an important role in informing decisions about the safety of the airways system, including such matters as the need for navigation facilities, communication links, air traffic control towers and rescue/fire fighting services. The objective of the limited scope audit was to examine the accuracy of the data on air traffic movements collected by Airservices Australia.

Mr P.J. Barrett (AM) - Auditor-General for Australia, presented to the Institute of Public Administration Australia