Reports
Internal Controls and Governance 2019
This report covers the findings and recommendations from the 2018–19 financial audits that relate to internal controls and governance at 40 of the largest agencies in the NSW public sector. The 40 agencies selected for this report constitute around 84 per cent of total expenditure for all NSW public sector agencies.
The report provides insights into the effectiveness of controls and governance processes across the NSW public sector. It evaluates how agencies identify, mitigate and manage risks related to:
- financial controls
- information technology controls
- gifts and benefits
- internal audit
- contingent labour
- sensitive data.
The Auditor-General recommended that agencies do more to prioritise and address vulnerabilities in their internal controls and governance. The Auditor-General also recommended agencies increase the transparency of their management of gifts and benefits by publishing their registers on their websites.
This report analyses the internal controls and governance of 40 of the largest agencies in the NSW public sector for the year ended 30 June 2019.
1. Internal control trends
| New, repeat and high risk findings |
There was an increase in internal control deficiencies of 12 per cent compared to last year. The increase is predominately due to a 100 per cent increase in repeat financial and IT control deficiencies. Some agencies attributed the delay in actioning repeat findings to the diversion of staff from their regular activities to implement and operationalise the recent Machinery of Government changes. As a result, actions to address audit recommendations have been deferred or re prioritised, as the changes are implemented. Agencies need to ensure they are actively managing the risks associated with having these vulnerabilities in internal control systems unaddressed for extended periods of time. |
| Common findings |
A number of findings were common to multiple agencies. These findings often related to areas that are fundamental to good internal control environments and effective organisational governance, such as:
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2. Information technology controls
| IT general controls |
We examined information security controls over key financial systems that support the preparation of agency financial statements. We found:
We also found 20 per cent of agencies had deficient IT program change controls, mainly related to segregation of duties in approval and authorisation processes, and user acceptance testing of program changes prior to deployment into production environments. User acceptance testing helps identify potential issues with software incompatibility, operational workflows, absent controls and software issues, as well as areas where training or user support may be required. |
3. Gifts and benefits
| Gifts and benefits registers |
All agencies had a gifts and benefits policy and 90 per cent of agencies maintain a gifts and benefits register. However, 51 per cent of the gifts and benefits registers we examined contained incomplete declarations, such as missing details for the approving officer, value of the gift and/or benefit offered and reasons supporting the decision. In some cases, gaps in recorded information meant the basis for decisions around gifts and benefits was not always clear, making it difficult to determine whether decisions in those instances were appropriate, compliant with policy and were not direct or indirect inducements to the recipients to favour suppliers or service providers. Agencies should ensure their gifts and benefits register includes all key fields specified in the Public Service Commission's minimum standards for gifts and benefits. Agencies should also perform regular reviews of the register to ensure completeness and ensure any gift or benefit accepted by a staff member meets the public's expectations for ethical behaviour. |
| Managing gifts and benefits |
We found opportunities to improve gifts and benefits processes and enhance transparency. For example, only three per cent of agencies publish their gifts and benefits registers on their websites. Agencies can improve management of gifts and benefits by:
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| Reporting and monitoring |
Only 35 per cent of agencies reported trends in the number and nature of gifts and benefits recorded in their registers to the agency's senior executive management and/or a governance committee. Agencies should regularly report to the agency executive or other governance committee on trends in the offer and acceptance of gifts and benefits. |
4. Internal audit
| Obtaining value from the internal audit function |
Agencies have established and maintained internal audit functions to provide assurance on the effectiveness of agency controls and governance systems. However, we identified areas where agencies' internal audit functions could improve their processes to add greater value. For example, only 73 per cent of CAEs regularly attend meetings of the agency board or executive management committee. Internal audit functions can add greater value by involving the CAE more extensively in executive forums as an observer. Internal audit functions should also consider producing an annual report on internal audit. An annual report allows the internal audit function to report on their performance and add value by drawing to the attention of audit and risk committees and senior management strategic issues, thematic trends and emerging risks. |
| Role of the Chief Audit Executive |
Forty-five per cent of agencies assigned responsibilities to the Chief Audit Executive (CAE) that were broader than internal audit, but 17 per cent of these had not documented safeguards to protect the independence of the CAE. The reporting lines and status of the CAE at some agencies also needs review. At two agencies, the CAE reported to the CFO. Agencies should ensure:
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| Quality assurance and improvement program |
Thirty-five per cent of agencies did not have a documented quality assurance and improvement program for its internal audit function. The policy and the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing require agencies to have a documented quality assurance and improvement program. The results of this program should be reported annually. Agencies should ensure there is a documented and operational Quality Assurance and Improvement Program for the internal audit function that covers both internal and external assessments. |
5. Managing contingent labour
| Obtaining value for money from contingent labour |
According to NSW Procurement data, spend on contingent labour has increased by 75 per cent over the last five years, to $1.5 billion in 2018–19. Improvements in internal processes and a renewed focus on agency monitoring and oversight of contingent labour can help ensure agencies get the best value for money from their contingent workforces. Agencies can improve their management of contingent labour by:
We also found 57 per cent of the 23 agencies we examined with contingent labour spend of more than $5 million in 2018–19 have implemented the government's vendor management system and service provider 'Contractor Central'. |
6. Managing sensitive data
| Identifying and assessing sensitive data |
Sixty-eight per cent of agencies maintain an inventory of their sensitive data and where it resides. However, these inventories are not always complete and risks may be overlooked. Agencies can improve processes to manage sensitive data by:
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| Managing data breaches |
Eighty-eight per cent of agencies have established policies to respond to potential data breaches when they are identified and 70 per cent of agencies maintain a register to record key information in relation to identified data breach incidents. Agencies should maintain a data breach register to effectively manage the actions undertaken to contain, evaluate and remediate each data breach. |
This report covers the findings and recommendations from our 2018–19 financial audits that relate to internal controls and governance at 40 of the largest agencies (refer to Appendix three) in the NSW public sector. The 40 agencies selected for this volume constitute around 84 per cent of total expenditure for all NSW public sector agencies.
Although the report includes several agencies that have changed as a result of the Machinery of Government changes that were effective from 1 July 2019, its focus on sector wide issues and insights means that its findings remain relevant to NSW public sector agencies, including newly formed agencies that have assumed the functions of abolished agencies.
This report offers insights into internal controls and governance in the NSW public sector
This is the third report dedicated to internal controls and governance at NSW State Government agencies. The report provides insights into the effectiveness of controls and governance processes in the NSW public sector by:
- highlighting the potential risks posed by weaknesses in controls and governance processes
- helping agencies benchmark the adequacy of their processes against their peers
- focusing on new and emerging risks, and the internal controls and governance processes that might address those risks.
Without strong governance systems and internal controls, agencies increase the risks associated with effectively managing their finances and delivering services to citizens. For example, if they do not have strong information technology controls, sensitive information may be at risk of unauthorised access and misuse.
Areas of specific focus of the report have changed since last year
Last year's report topics included transparency and performance reporting, management of purchasing cards and taxi use, and fraud and corruption control. We are reporting on new topics this year and re-visiting agency management of gifts and benefits, which we first covered in our 2017 report. Re-visiting topics from prior years provides a baseline to show the NSW public sectors’ progress implementing appropriate internal controls and governance processes to mitigate existing, new and emerging risks in the public sector.
Our audits do not review all aspects of internal controls and governance every year. We select a range of measures and report on those that present heightened risks for agencies to mitigate. This year the report focusses on:
- internal control trends
- information technology controls, including access to agency systems
- protecting sensitive information held within agencies
- managing large and diverse workforces (controls around employing and managing contingent workers)
- maintaining an ethical culture (management of gifts and benefits)
- effectiveness of internal audit function and its oversight by Audit and Risk Committees.
The findings in this report should not be used to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of individual agency control environments and governance arrangements. Specific financial reporting, internal controls and audit observations are included in the individual 2019 cluster financial audit reports, which will be tabled in parliament from November to December 2019.
Internal controls are processes, policies and procedures that help agencies to:
- operate effectively and efficiently
- produce reliable financial reports
- comply with laws and regulations
- support ethical government.
This chapter outlines the overall trends for agency controls and governance issues, including the number of audit findings, the degree of risk those deficiencies pose to the agency, and a summary of the most common deficiencies we found across agencies. The rest of this report presents this year’s controls and governance findings in more detail.
Key conclusions and sector wide learnings
- out of date policies or an absence of policies to guide appropriate decisions
- poor record keeping and document retention
- incomplete or inaccurate centralised registers or gaps in these registers.
Policies, procedures and internal controls should be properly designed, be appropriate for the current organisational structure and its business activities, and work effectively.
This chapter outlines our audit observations, conclusions and recommendations, arising from our review of agency controls to manage key financial systems.
This chapter outlines our audit observations, conclusions and recommendations, arising from our review of agency controls to manage gifts and benefits.
Key conclusions and sector wide learnings
We found most agencies have implemented the Public Service Commission's minimum standards for gifts and benefits. All agencies had a gifts and benefits policy and 90 per cent of agencies maintained a gifts and benefits register and provided some form of training to employees on the treatment of gifts and benefits.
Based on our analysis of agency registers, we found some areas where opportunities existed to make processes more effective. In some cases, gaps in recorded information meant the basis for decisions around gifts and benefits was not always clear, making it difficult to determine whether decisions in those instances were appropriate and compliant with policy. Fifty-one per cent of the gifts and benefits registers reviewed contained declarations where not all fields of information had been completed. Seventy-seven per cent of agencies that maintained a gifts and benefits register did not include all key fields suggested by the minimum standards.
Areas where agencies can improve their management of gifts and benefits include:
- ensuring agency policies comprehensively cover the elements necessary to make it effective in an operational environment, such as identifying risks specific to the agency and actions that will be taken in the event of a policy breach
- establishing and publishing a statement of business ethics on the agency's website to clearly communicate expected behaviours to clients, customers,suppliers and contractors
- updating gifts and benefits registers to include all key fields suggested by the minimum standards, as well as performing regular reviews of the register to ensure completeness
- providing on-going training, awareness activities and support to employees, not just at induction
- regularly reporting gifts and benefits to executive management and/or a governance committee such as the audit and risk committee, focussing on trends in the number and types of gifts and benefits offered to and accepted by agency staff
- publishing their gifts and benefits registers on their websites to demonstrate a commitment to a transparently ethical environment.
This chapter outlines our audit observations, conclusions and recommendations, arising from our review of agency internal audit functions.
Key conclusions and sector wide learnings
We found agencies have established and maintained internal audit functions to provide assurance on the effectiveness of agency controls and governance systems as required by TPP15-03 'Internal Audit and Risk Management Policy for the NSW Public Sector'. However, we identified areas where agencies' internal audit functions could improve their processes to add greater value, including:
- documenting and implementing safeguards to address conflicting roles performed by the Chief Audit Executive (CAE)
- ensuring the reporting lines for the CAE comply with the NSW Treasury policy, and the CAE reports neither functionally or administratively to the finance function or other significant recipients of internal audit services
- involving the CAE more extensively in executive forums as an observer
- documenting a Quality Assurance and Improvement Program for the internal audit function and performing both internal and external performance assessments to identify opportunities for continuous improvement
- reporting against key performance indicators or a balanced scorecard and producing an annual report on internal audit to bring to the attention of the audit and risk committee and senior management strategic issues, thematic trends and emerging risks that may require further attention or resources.
This chapter outlines our audit observations, conclusions and recommendations, arising from our review of agency controls to on-board, manage and off-board contingent labour.
Key conclusions and sector wide learnings
Agencies have implemented controls to manage contingent labour and most agencies have some level of reporting and oversight of contingent labour at an executive level. However, the increasing trend in spend on contingent labour warrants a renewed focus on agency monitoring and oversight of their use of contingent labour. Over the last five years spend on contingent labour has increased by 75 per cent, to $1.5 billion in 2018–19.
There are also some key gaps that limit the ability of agencies to effectively manage contingent labour. Key areas where agencies can improve their management of contingent labour include:
- preparing workforce plans to inform their resourcing strategy, and confirm prior to engaging contingent labour, that this solution aligns with the strategy and best meets business needs
- involving agency human resources units in decisions about engaging contingent labour
- regularly reporting on contingent labour use to agency executive teams, particularly in terms of trends in agency spend, tenure and compliance with policies and procedures
- strengthening on-boarding and off-boarding processes, including establishing checklists to on-board and off-board contingent labour, making provisions for knowledge transfer, and assessing, documenting and capturing performance information.
This chapter outlines our audit observations, conclusions and recommendations, arising from our review of governance and processes in relation to the management of sensitive data.
Key conclusions and sector wide learnings
Information technology risks are rapidly increasing. More interfaces between agencies and greater connectivity means the amounts of data agencies generate, access, store and share continue to increase. Some of this information is sensitive information, which is protected by the Privacy Act 1988.
It is important that agencies understand what sensitive data they hold, the risks associated with the inadvertent release of this information and how they are mitigating those risks. We found that agencies need to continue to identify and record their sensitive data, as well as expand the methods they use to identify sensitive data. This includes data held in unstructured repositories, such as network shared drives and by agency service providers.
Eighty-eight per cent of agencies have established policies to respond to potential data breaches when they are identified and 70 per cent of agencies maintain a register to record key information in relation to identified data breach incidents.
Key areas where agencies can improve their management of sensitive data include:
- identifying sensitive data, based on a comprehensive and structured process and maintaining an inventory of the data
- assessing the criticality and sensitivity of the data so that the protection of high risk data can be prioritised
- developing comprehensive data breach management policies to ensure data breaches are appropriately managed
- maintaining a data breach incident register to record key information in relation to identified data breaches incidents, including the estimated cost of the breach
- providing on-going training and awareness activities to employees in relation to sensitive data and managing data breaches.
Appendix one – List of 2019 recommendations
Appendix two – Status of 2018 recommendations
Appendix three – In-scope agencies
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Fare evasion on public transport: Follow-up audit
The overall level of fare evasion is now lower, and the revenue forgone much less, than in 2000. The estimation of fare evasion, detection of fare evasion and management of fare compliance by RailCorp, State Transit and Sydney Ferries has improved, although Sydney Ferries needs to improve further.
However, only one in four fines for fare evasion are paid within 12 months. This is worse than in 2000. And the number of frequent fare evaders has almost trebled. State Debt Recovery Office and the transport agencies need to develop new and improved strategies to reduce the level of fine default and to better manage frequent fare evaders.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #150 - released 26 April 2006
Implementing Asset Management Reforms
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; even a small efficiency gain in this area can provide significant returns. Good practice by those responsible for managing assets can improve reliability, extend asset life, save on maintenance costs and aid in identifying and disposing of unnecessary or non-performing assets.
Improving the NSW public sector’s approach to asset management has been on the reform agenda for at least a decade. Changes in practice have been accelerated more recently by integrating asset management policy with the budget process.
In this audit we examined NSW Treasury’s efforts to improve asset management practices in the public sector and the progress made by 3 agencies - the Department of Corrective Services, NSW Fire Brigades and the Powerhouse Museum - towards better managing their asset portfolios.
This report informs Parliament and the community on progress to date and what more needs to be done to ensure that agencies manage assets effectively and achieve best value.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #143 - released 12 October 2005
In-year Monitoring of the State Budget
The annual Budget is one of the most important and visible statements about a government’s financial intentions.
Once a Budget is released, it is important to monitor variations from the projections it contains. This is done for two reasons -
- first, to ensure that individual agencies are properly managing their budget allocations and that any genuine emerging need for additional funding is met.
- second, to ensure that any changes to the State’s overall financial position are understood and corrective action is undertaken.
This audit dealt primarily with the second of these objectives.
Budget monitoring involves both agencies and Treasury working together to quickly identify factors that might impact the budget, to clearly understand the implications for their budget position and to take any remedial action needed.
Poor monitoring may reduce the confidence that stakeholders have in the government’s financial management. It may mean that government decisions made in- year or for the following budget (for example on tax measures or spending increases/savings) are based on an incorrect understanding of the State’s true financial position.
I hope that this Report provides some useful insights that will assist in better monitoring.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #141 - released 28 July 2005
Follow-up of Performance Audit: Collecting Outstanding Fines and Penalties
Periodically we review the extent to which agencies have implemented the recommendations they accept from our earlier audits. This gives Parliament and the public an update on the extent of progress made.
In this follow-up audit, we examine changes following our April 2002 report on how well the State Debt Recovery Office (under the Office of State Revenue) was collecting outstanding fines and penalties.
Parliamentary reference - Report number #132 - released 17 March 2005
