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Reports

Published

Actions for Central Agencies 2018

Central Agencies 2018

Treasury
Premier and Cabinet
Finance
Financial reporting
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Risk

The Auditor-General for New South Wales, Margaret Crawford, released her report today on the results of the financial audits of NSW Government central agencies. The report focuses on key observations and findings from the most recent financial statement audits of agencies in the Treasury, Premier and Cabinet, and Finance, Services and Innovation clusters. While clear audit opinions were issued on all agency financial statements, the report notes tha

Published

Actions for Internal Controls and Governance 2018

Internal Controls and Governance 2018

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

The Auditor-General for New South Wales Margaret Crawford found that as NSW state government agencies’ digital footprint increases they need to do more to address new and emerging information technology (IT) risks. This is one of the key findings to emerge from the second stand-alone report on internal controls and governance of the 40 largest NSW state government agencies. This report analys

Published

Actions for Managing risks in the NSW public sector: risk culture and capability

Managing risks in the NSW public sector: risk culture and capability

Finance
Health
Justice
Treasury
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Risk
Workforce and capability

The Ministry of Health, NSW Fair Trading, NSW Police Force, and NSW Treasury Corporation are taking steps to strengthen their risk culture, according to a report released today by the Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford. 'Senior management communicates the importance of managing risk to their staff, and there are many examples of risk management being integrated into daily activities', the Auditor-General said. We did find that three of the agencies we e

Published

Actions for Volume Thirteen 2015 Electricity

Volume Thirteen 2015 Electricity

Planning
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

The NSW Government continues to divest its interest in electricity businesses.   In 2014-15, Macquarie Generation and Delta Electricity’s Colongra power stations were sold, collectively raising over $1.7 billion in gross proceeds.   In November 2015, the NSW Government announced the lease of TransGrid for 99 years to a private sector consortium for $10.3 billion and the sale of Delta Electricity’s Vales Point power station for $1.0 million. It

Published

Actions for Volume Twelve 2015 Part One Trade & Investment and TAFE

Volume Twelve 2015 Part One Trade & Investment and TAFE

Planning
Education
Asset valuation
Compliance
Financial reporting
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

Serious system limitations prevented TAFE NSW from providing sufficient and appropriate evidence to support recorded student revenue of $477 million, student receivables and accrued income of $47.6 million and unearned revenue of $398 million.   These limitations resulted in:  a qualified audit opinion being issued for TAFE NSW; delays in enrolling students; inability to fully reconcile cash balances; difficulties in reconciling student e

Published

Actions for Volume Twelve 2015 Part Two Water

Volume Twelve 2015 Part Two Water

Planning
Environment
Asset valuation
Compliance
Financial reporting
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

The distributions to the NSW Government increased from $690 million in 2013-14 to $1.0 billion in 2014-15. The increase was largely due to a higher dividend from Sydney Water Corporation.

Published

Actions for Volume Ten 2015 Health

Volume Ten 2015 Health

Health
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

NSW Health, on average, met the emergency department triage response time targets across all triage categories in 2014-15 for the second consecutive year. However, fewer health entities met all triage targets in 2014-15, according to a report released by the New South Wales Acting Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield.    NSW Health improved its emergency department treatment performance in 2014-15, but did not achieve its target of 81 per cent of pa

Published

Actions for Volume Nine 2015 Planning and Environment

Volume Nine 2015 Planning and Environment

Planning
Environment
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has reduced the average time to assess contaminated sites from 203 days in 2013-14 to 73 days in 2014-15. It is also improving transparency by making more information on its performance publicly available.   In 2014-15, the Department of Planning and Environment increased new housing approvals across New South Wales by 12 per cent to 58,252, exceeding the State priority target of 50,000. It also reduced the t

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

Published

Actions for Security of critical IT infrastructure

Security of critical IT infrastructure

Transport
Planning
Compliance
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Risk

Roads and Maritime Services and Transport for NSW have deployed many controls to protect traffic management systems but these would have been only partially effective in detecting and preventing incidents and unlikely to support a timely response. There was a potential for unauthorised access to sensitive information and systems that could have disrupted traffic.   Until Roads and Maritime Services’ IT disaster recovery site is fully commissioned, a