The Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford released a report today highlighting a decline in net profits of electricity agencies and the distributions the government received from these agencies. The report also details continuing issues in the management of Crown Land and TAFE NSW's student administration system.

Financial reporting within the Transport Cluster continues to improve with reported misstatements down 96 per cent since 2011-12 to just three in 2015-16, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

Transport for NSW did not effectively plan and procure the CBD and South East Light Rail (CSELR) project to achieve best value for money according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

Transport for NSW is on track to deliver the project, but it will come at a higher cost with lower benefits than in the approved business case.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #278 - released 30 November 2016

Overall, the peer review process provides good assurance that government advertising campaigns are necessary and cost effective, according to a report released today by the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

In NSW, the Government Advertising Act 2011 requires government advertising campaigns with a likely expenditure over $50,000 to be independently peer reviewed before launch. The Department of Premier and Cabinet manages this process, which includes allocating and coordinating peer reviewers to assess campaigns against the Premier’s ‘Government Advertising Guidelines’.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #276 - released 27 October 2016

The management of the sale and lease of Crown land is not effective because oversight of decision-making is inadequate and community involvement is limited, according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

The audit found limited oversight of sales and leases of Crown land by the Department of Industry - Lands. The Department has only just started monitoring whether tenants are complying with lease conditions, and does not have a clear view of what is happening on most leased Crown land. The majority of guidance provided to staff has not been updated in the past decade, contributing to staff not correctly implementing policies on rental rebates, unpaid rent, rent redeterminations and the direct negotiation of sales and leases on Crown land.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #273 - released 8 September 2016

The Audit Office reviewed whether Members of NSW Parliament complied with certain requirements outlined in the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal’s Determination for the year ended 30 June 2015.

The review was designed to provide Parliament with limited assurance about whether a sample of 34 Members complied with the Tribunal’s Determination. The review performed was less than a full audit and not designed to detect all instances of non-compliance.

All agencies in transport cluster received unqualified audit opinions for the year ended 30 June 2014. The quality of financial reporting continues to improve with the number of misstatements identified during audits falling for the fifth year in a row.

All agencies in the NSW Premier and Cabinet cluster received unqualified audit opinions for the year ended 30 June 2014. Overall financial reporting has improved. Agencies submitted their financial statements earlier than last year and for the third year in a row there has been a reduction in the number of misstatements identified during audits.

NSW Government agencies with large landholdings need to better manage their contaminated sites.

When contaminated sites are reported to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) there are long delays in assessing the extent of contamination. The EPA also lacks the management controls to ensure that all significantly contaminated sites are actively monitored and key milestones for remediation are met.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #245 - released 10 July 2014