Unqualified opinions were issued for all agencies audited in the following report.

Some of the reports findings include:

• Most cultural bodies rely heavily on government grants to fund services

• The Sydney Opera House Trust earns most of its revenue from commercial operations

• Less than half of the 2014-16 service agreements between HealthShare NSW and its customers have been signed. HealthShare NSW and health entities should finalise their 2014-2016 service agreements by no later than 31 January 2014

• Five service level agreements with NSW Health Pathology for 2012-13 were never signed. NSW Health Pathology and local health districts/speciality networks should finalise their 2013-14 service agreements by no later than 31 December 2013

• HealthShare NSW is committed to sharing internal audit findings across NSW Health

• The Ministry has started a long-term project to review its policy directives

• A recent review concluded the health sector has mature risk management practices

• When changes to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 occur, the Minister should identify and assess any risks from the changes and develop strategies to mitigate against them.

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.

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 the procedures, which helped them submit financial statements by an earlier due date.

This in turn enabled the financial statement audits to be finalised within an earlier timeframe of eight weeks (nine weeks in 2011-12), with the exception of Eraring Energy’s audit, which is yet to be finalised. The early close procedures also resulted in improvements to the quality of the financial statements, as evidenced by fewer reported misstatements in 2012-13 compared to 2011-12.

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

The Ambulance Service of New South Wales has substantially implemented the 28 recommendations of the 2001 audit report that it accepted. It has also introduced significant new initiatives to improve performance that were not part of the 2001 recommendations. It has made substantial changes to its organisation and operations to implement these changes. Many of the changes are still proceeding. The Service has addressed a key finding of the 2001 audit report - that it did not have adequate, relevant or credible management data for decision making. The Service now has five years of operational data from the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #167 - released 6 June 2007