The Commonwealth Parliament regulates Australian Government entities through the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act  — the PGPA Act. The Act establishes a system of governance, performance and accountability for resources managed by entities. This edition of audit insights looks at recent ANAO audit activity reviewing entities implementation of key components of the PGPA: risk management, corporate planning and performance statements.

The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Social Services’ administration of NRAS allocations; processing of market rent valuations, statements of compliance and incentive payments; and the supporting business systems and processes.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the design of, and award of funding under, the Living Safe Together grants programme.

The objective of the audit was to assess whether the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has established effective risk management arrangements to support the implementation of the Statistical Business Transformation Program.

The report summarises performance audit, financial statement audit and other related activities for the ANAO for the period July to December 2003. The key issues arising from performance audits tabled in this period are summarised against the ANAO themes. The report also summarises financial audits and other financial audit activities conducted by the ANAO during the period July to December 2003. It discusses significant issues such as the: consolidated financial statements and the final budget outcome; harmonisation of Australian Generally accepted accounting practices and Government Finance Statistics; adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards; timing for Financial Statements Preparation; and the audit of the CFS 2002-03.

This report presents the results of the interim phase of the 2004-2005 financial statement audits. The audits have encompassed a review of governance arrangements related to entities' financial management responsibilities, and an examination of internal control, including information technology system controls for all portfolio departments and other major General Government Sector entities as at 31 March 2005. An examination of such issues is designed to assess the reliance that can be placed on internal controls to produce complete and accurate information for financial reporting purposes. All ANAO findings have been reported to entities and summary reports provided to the relevant Minister(s).

The audit reviewed the Defence Materiel Organisation's management of the $3.43 billion Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) project. The Wedgetail project is to provide the Australian Defence Force with an AEW&C capability based on four Boeing 737 AEW&C aircraft and associated supplies and logistic support. At the time of the audit the AEW&C systems were still in their early development phase, and by November 2003, Defence had spent $1.107 billion on the project.

The objective of this audit was to follow up DVA's implementation of the recommendations in Audit Report No. 44, 2000-01, Information Technology in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. The ANAO made two recommendations in the report (the second having five parts). The recommendations addressed the monitoring of IT changes; IT performance information; information systems model documentation; and the facilitation of the interpretation of performance information.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office's activities in addressing Superannuation Guarantee non-compliance.

The Auditor-General responded on 6 April 2023 to correspondence from Senator Andrew Bragg dated 8 March 2023, requesting that the Auditor-General conduct an investigation into the costs of the ongoing legal dispute concerning the Commonwealth and Dr Monique Ryan MP. The Auditor-General responded on 11 May 2023 to follow-up correspondence from Senator Bragg dated 18 April 2023, requesting a timeline for finalisation of the 2022–23 financial statements audit of the Department of Finance.

The Auditor-General responded on 15 December 2023 regarding the ANAO enquiries and that the results are published in the Auditor-General Report No.9 (2023-24) Audits of the Financial Statements of Australian Government Entities ended 30 June 2023 that tabled in the Parliament on 14 December 2023.