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Reports

Published

Actions for Volume Eleven 2015 Education and Communities

Volume Eleven 2015 Education and Communities

Education
Community Services
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

The number of students enrolled in NSW public schools has increased by over 21,000 during the past five years taking total enrolments in 2014 to 763,698.   While growth in student numbers is concentrated in metropolitan Sydney, enrolments in Northern Sydney increased by 20 per cent in the past ten years.

Published

Actions for Volume Eight 2015 Family and Community Services

Volume Eight 2015 Family and Community Services

Community Services
Asset valuation
Compliance
Financial reporting
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

Placement reviews are not undertaken for all children and young people in statutory care.  Caseworkers are required to review placements annually to assess the health, wellbeing, education and social life of the child. Over three-quarters of children and young people received placement reviews in 2014-15 compared to about half of them in the previous twelve months.

Published

Actions for Volume Four 2015 Treasury and State Finances

Volume Four 2015 Treasury and State Finances

Treasury
Whole of Government
Asset valuation
Compliance
Financial reporting
Internal controls and governance

For the third consecutive year, the General Government and Total State Sector Accounts received an unqualified auditor’s opinion following more than a decade of qualifications.   Errors in agencies’ financial statements and the Total State Sector Accounts were corrected as necessary to ensure compliance with Australian Accounting Standards and the requirements of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983.   Improvements to year-end financial report

Published

Actions for Community Housing

Community Housing

Community Services
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Procurement
Project management
Service delivery

On 16 September 2015 the NSW Acting Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield, released a report on community housing. The audit examines the Department of Family and Community Services’ transfer of public housing to non-government community housing providers. The Department has worked collaboratively with community housing providers and industry groups to develop the community housing sector. Although there have been some delays, it has managed the transfer of p

Published

Actions for Transferring out-of-home care to non-government organisations

Transferring out-of-home care to non-government organisations

Community Services
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Procurement
Project management
Service delivery

The audit assessed how well the Department of Family and Community Services has transferred the management of children in out-of-home care to non-government organisations (NGOs).   The Department has put considerable effort into developing the out-of-home care sector and is progressing well towards its goal of transferring all children in statutory care to NGOs. Since 2011, the number of children with an accredited NGO has more than doubled. This is

Published

Actions for Identifying productivity in the public sector

Identifying productivity in the public sector

Health
Education
Community Services
Transport
Justice
Treasury
Whole of Government
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

This report examines selected areas of government activity to see if sufficient information was available to identify and assess changes in productivity. The areas examined were primary and secondary school public education, acute inpatient care in NSW public hospitals, CityRail, the NSW Police Force, and the NSW Local Court. Productivity is commonly defined as the amount of output per unit of input.   Parliamentary reference - Report number #256

Published

Actions for Implementing performance audit recommendations

Implementing performance audit recommendations

Premier and Cabinet
Treasury
Whole of Government
Health
Education
Community Services
Transport
Justice
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

NSW Government agencies have sound processes for implementing performance audit recommendations in Auditor-General’s Reports to Parliament. There are many cases of good practice. For example, some agencies formed a steering committee and developed a detailed plan to implement recommendations. Another incorporated the implementation of recommendations into both its business plan and the work plans of individual officers who were managing projects. Most ag

Published

Actions for Government advertising 2015

Government advertising 2015

Premier and Cabinet
Environment
Whole of Government
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Procurement
Project management

The Government Advertising Act 2011 requires the Auditor-General to conduct an annual performance audit to check NSW Government agency compliance with the Act. This audit focused on the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s (DPC) role in monitoring government agencies compliance with government advertising requirements, and examined advertising campaigns run by Destination NSW and the Sydney Opera House.   Parliamentary reference - Report number #2

Published

Actions for Large construction projects

Large construction projects

Treasury
Transport
Health
Industry
Planning
Premier and Cabinet
Whole of Government
Compliance
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Procurement
Project management

The independent assurance given to the NSW Government and sponsor agencies on the viability of large capital projects throughout their lifecycle is inadequate. Government policy is regularly not followed and not properly communicated to those responsible for implementing such policy.   This audit sought to test the effectiveness of the NSW capital project assurance system - which includes gateway reviews and reporting - but significant levels of non

Published

Actions for Areas of focus from 2014

Areas of focus from 2014

Education
Community Services
Finance
Health
Industry
Justice
Local Government
Planning
Premier and Cabinet
Transport
Treasury
Universities
Whole of Government
Environment
Compliance
Financial reporting
Fraud
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Procurement
Project management
Risk

The 2014 audits showed that the quality and timeliness of financial reporting have continued to improve. However, many agencies do not have financial sustainability indicators that provide early warning of management issues, such as an inability to meet financial obligations. Weaknesses were identified in information security, management of leave balances, asset management and internal controls.   Governance issues and gaps in performance informat