The Auditor-General for New South Wales, Margaret Crawford, released a report today on how well four councils managed their local infrastructure contributions during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 financial years.  Local infrastructure contributions, also known as developer contributions, are collected from developers to pay for local infrastructure such as drainage, local roads, open space and community facilities. Controls over local infrastructure contribut

This report focuses on whether Destination NSW (DNSW) can demonstrate that its support for major events achieves value for money. The audit found that DNSW’s processes for assessing and evaluating the major events it funds are mostly effective, but its public reporting does not provide enough transparency. DNSW provides clear information to event organisers seeking funding and has a comprehensive methodology for conducting detailed event assessments. H

This report focuses on key observations and findings from 2016 audits and highlights key areas of focus for financial and performance audits in 2017. The quality and timeliness of financial reporting continued to improve across the NSW public sector in 2016. Only one qualified audit opinion was issued and most agencies signed their financial statements on time. We found the Government’s cluster governance arrangements were unclear and inconsistently i

The NSW Government’s ‘program evaluation initiative’, introduced to assess whether service delivery programs achieve expected outcomes and value for money, is largely ineffective according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford. Government services, in areas such as public order and safety, health and education, are delivered by agencies through a variety of programs. In 2016–17, the NSW Government estimates that it will sp

Issues of corporate governance have long been a matter for concern in the private sector. Following recent corporate collapses and scandals, legislators and regulators in a number of countries have focused on strengthening governance in publicly traded corporations. Considerable attention has been given to setting clear expectations for the performance of boards and for the disclosure of information to various stakeholders. Good governance is no less im

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;

The Olympic Coordination Authority (OCA) has made a concerted and commendable effort in preparing the Games Budget within the definition of expenditure for the Games approved by the Government. OCA has also effectively used the definition of cost to control claims made by government agencies against the estimates to host the Games. However, because the Games Budget was prepared in accordance with that definition, the Games Budget arguably does not captu

New South Wales has a lot of councils providing similar services to the community, such as domestic waste and stormwater management services. However, the charges for these common services vary greatly between councils. This audit could examine selected common charges across a number of councils to understand what is driving the variability in charges.

The NSW Government’s Climate Change Policy Framework aims to maximise the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of NSW in the context of a changing climate. It states long-term aspirational objectives of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and having NSW more resilient to a changing climate. The Framework is due to be reviewed in 2020. This audit could assess specific commitments to change government operations such as implementing emission savin

In response to the 2019-20 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSW Government released significant funds for a range of grant programs aimed at providing emergency support, recovery and economic stimulus across NSW. In 2020, the $750 million dollar Small Business Support Fund was set up to support small businesses and a number of grants rounds have been implemented. This audit will assess whether grants administered under the Small Business Support