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Reports

Published

Actions for Volume Nine 2013 focusing on Environment, Water and Infrastructure

Volume Nine 2013 focusing on Environment, Water and Infrastructure

Planning
Industry
Environment
Financial reporting
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

Volume Nine focuses on our financial audits of New South Wales government agencies in the environment, water, planning and infrastructure and family and community services. Some agencies in the Department of Premier and Cabinet are also included.

Published

Actions for Volume Four 2013 focusing on Electricity

Volume Four 2013 focusing on Electricity

Planning
Industry
Compliance
Financial reporting
Regulation

During the year, Treasury issued TC 13/01 ‘Mandatory early close procedures for 2013’. This circular aimed to improve the quality and timeliness of agencies’ annual financial statements. In 2012-13, application of the circular was made mandatory for State owned corporations. As a result, the NSW Generators, Distributors and Transgrid were required to perform the early close procedures. All the electricity entities were broadly successful in performing th

Published

Actions for Building Energy Use in NSW Public Hospitals

Building Energy Use in NSW Public Hospitals

Health
Treasury
Planning
Environment
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

NSW Health has reduced its energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by two per cent over the last four years. It is pleasing that annual emissions are now 15,000 tonnes less than they were four years ago. However, this was not sufficient to meet its target of an 11 per cent drop in emissions.  Despite a reduction in energy use, energy cost in NSW Health has increased by nearly 50 per cent over the last four years to $120 million per annum. This is e

Published

Actions for Management of Historic Heritage in National Parks and Reserves

Management of Historic Heritage in National Parks and Reserves

Planning
Environment
Infrastructure
Management and administration

The National Parks and Wildlife Service is spreading its resources too thinly, running the risk that the heritage significance of important assets will eventually be lost.   Parliamentary reference - Report number #230 - released 29 May 2013

Published

Actions for Volume Two 2013 focusing on Universities

Volume Two 2013 focusing on Universities

Universities
Financial reporting
Fraud
Management and administration
Regulation

Except for the matters noted, the Members we reviewed substantially complied with the requirements of the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal’s Determination (the PRT Determination) for the year ended 30 June 2012. The review identified the following material exceptions: nine Member claims were not submitted for payment within 60 days of receipt or occurrence of the expense  eight Members did not return their unspent Sydney Allowance amoun

Published

Actions for Managing Gifts and Benefits

Managing Gifts and Benefits

Planning
Finance
Transport
Environment
Compliance
Fraud
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

Overall, the audited entities are managing some aspects of gifts and benefits effectively but other aspects require improvement. We found that all five entities had gifts and benefits policies that addressed some but not all of the attributes of a sound policy. All five have communicated their gifts and benefits policies to staff and external stakeholders, although in each case we identified opportunities to better communicate their policies. &nbsp

Published

Actions for Implementing Asset Management Reforms

Implementing Asset Management Reforms

Justice
Planning
Finance
Treasury
Asset valuation
Financial reporting
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Project management

Hospitals, schools, public housing, roads, bridges, buses and trains are just some of the assets used by government in providing services to citizens. The NSW Government’s asset base is impressive in size - with a value of around $167 billion and with government plans to spend around $8 billion acquiring or replacing assets in the current year. Another $2 billion is spent each year on maintenance. Good asset management is very important to government;

Published

Actions for Planning for Sydney's Water Needs

Planning for Sydney's Water Needs

Planning
Environment
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Procurement
Project management
Service delivery

Reliably supplying water to our State’s principal city, Sydney, is a major responsibility for the Government. The community has been made keenly aware in recent years that inflows have been decreasing, and that Sydney has been using more water than is available. In April 2005 the water in Sydney’s storages dropped to 41.5 per cent of their capacity – the lowest level since the construction of Warragamba dam in 1960. As Sydney continues to develop, it i

Published

Actions for Educational Testing Centre

Educational Testing Centre

Universities
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Risk

Both the University of New South Wales' Internal Audit and HR reports identified serious deficiencies in the operation and management of the Education Training Centre (ETC). This performance audit verified those findings where appropriate, and they are referred to or incorporated within this report. In addition, we identified other weaknesses that are also presented here. All the findings point to a serious lack of management controls, proper accoun

Published

Actions for Controlling and reducing pollution from industry

Controlling and reducing pollution from industry

Planning
Environment
Compliance
Management and administration
Regulation

The regulatory framework introduced under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997, along with other initiatives progressively being implemented by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), should enhance the overall effectiveness of environment protection in NSW. The Audit Office is of the opinion that the framework is consistent with best practice and once fully implemented, should contribute to the achievement of further improvements in