Government responses to improve legal and safe driving among Aboriginal people have had limited success reducing Aboriginal peoples’ over-representation in road accident fatalities, traffic-related offending and imprisonments.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #238 - released 19 December 2013

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.

Unqualified audit opinions were issued on the above corporations’ 30 June 2013 financial statements. 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 port corporations were required to perform the early close procedures. All the port corporations were successful in performing the procedures, which helped them submit financial statements by an earlier due date. The early close procedures also resulted in general improvements to the quality of most financial statements.

The report recommends all transport entities should do more to reduce excessive annual leave balances to ensure they will comply with new targets set by the Premier, RailCorp, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains should minimise the amount of overtime bonuses paid to train drivers and that Transport for NSW should set targets to measure the overall satisfaction of train users.

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.

Unqualified audit opinions were issued on the NSW Government controlled insurance and compensation entities’ 30 June 2013 financial statements, except the NSW Self Insurance Corporation (SICorp). SICorp’s audit opinion was qualified due to non-compliance with Australian Accounting Standards applicable to general insurance contracts. The auditor’s reports drew attention to the significant uncertainty in estimating outstanding claims liabilities of $14.0 billion in the Workers’ Compensation Nominal Insurer and $2.1 billion in the Lifetime Care and Support Authority. The audit of the Building Insurers’ Guarantee Corporation was not complete at the time of this report and is excluded from this commentary. 

Unqualified audit opinions were issued on the following financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2013: Department of Education and Communities (including the TAFE Commission), Technical and Further Education Commission, Board of Studies, Office of the Board of Studies, Board of Studies Casual Staff Division, Institute of Teachers, Office of the Institute of Teachers, NSW Board of Vocational Education and Training.

A key issue of focus was around the revaluation of School and TAFE NSW buildings. The report found that the Department’s approach to revaluing its buildings addressed previous concerns, however more work is required to refine the revaluation model and to build on the evidence available for cost rates.

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 Total State Sector Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2013 received an unqualified independent auditor’s opinion. This is the first time in over a decade the Total State Sector Accounts have not been qualified.

In looking into the resolution of qualifications:

• We obtained enough evidence supporting the value of education buildings and their depreciation expense
• Sufficent evidence has been obtained to support the existence and value of the State archives
• We obtained enough evidence supporting the completeness of land and infrastructure holdings recognised
• Improvements are still needed in the accuracy of information used to record the State’s land holdings.

Ten years ago, the then Department of Education and Training responded to concerns about classes without teachers by:

• increasing the number of teachers approved to teach casually

• giving temporary employment to extra teachers in hard-to-staff schools

• running a call centre that helped schools find casual teachers at short notice.

These measures significantly improved the supply of casual teachers to schools in South Western and Western Sydney.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #237 - released 3 October 2013

The NSW Government does not estimate or report the total cost of alcohol abuse. The Audit Office of New South Wales’ sponsored research estimates it costs the government over $1 billion a year, or around $416 from each NSW household.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #235 - released 6 August 2013