Fraud control in the NSW public sector needs to be better. Some agencies have approached the issue with vigour and initiative, and improvement since 1993 is evident in the major audit clients of The Audit Office. However, the overall achievement of NSW agencies in implementing fraud control strategies leaves much room for improvement.

There is a need for stricter requirements, better monitoring and improved central support to ensure that fraud control is properly addressed. This Report makes some suggestions in this regard, and highlights some issues for further research and guidance. There is a need to change management perceptions on the issue of fraud control. To this end, The Audit Office fully supports recent initiatives by the Chief Executives Committee (in constituting an Ethics Working Party) and NSW Treasury (in seeking to introduce a risk management approach to the public sector). These initiatives place fraud control into a broader context of effective ethical management, which is where it belongs.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #48 - released 25 March 1998