The Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) program was established in 2006 to improve service delivery to schools, corporate staff and TAFE NSW. Some parts of the three major components of the LMBR program have been delivered to different areas of the Department of Education and Communities. However, complete implementation is behind schedule and over budget, and the Department has yet to demonstrate that it will achieve the expected benefits.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #246 - released 16 December 2014

The quality of financial statements in the education and communities cluster continues to improve with fewer reported misstatements over the last three years. The financial statements of all agencies within this cluster received unqualified audit opinions. The Department of Education and Communities has 24 performance targets for early childhood through to tertiary education. Seven of these are either not being achieved or unlikely to be achieved.

For the second consecutive year, the General Government and Total State Sector Accounts received an unqualified auditor’s opinion following more than a decade of qualifications. The quality and timeliness of financial reporting across the NSW public sector has continued to improve. Compared to previous years, there were fewer errors in agencies’ 2013–14 financial statements submitted for audit and used for whole-of-government financial reporting.

Today the Auditor-General of New South Wales, Grant Hehir, released his Volume One Report to Parliament for 2014. The observations included in this report are designed to inform readers of common findings from the 2013 financial and performance audits so agencies and audit committees can use them to identify issues that may be relevant to their organisations.

The Audit Office is of the view that the intention to achieve greater accountability for, and transparency in, public school performance is highly commendable. To date, these provisions have not been imposed by the Government on private schools even where public funds are provided to such schools.

The model however has fallen short of its potential because the reporting protocols allow principals and self-evaluation committees the scope to determine what, in their view, is ‘significant’ for their school and how they will report on it. Although the Department has set out a common reporting format to be used, and schools have been given specific directions on what information should be reported, in the reports reviewed by The Audit Office it was apparent that the definition of ‘significant’ and the clarity of reporting varied between schools.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #63 - released 12 May 1999