Annual report 2021/22

Service 5: Assess public sector performance and accountability

What went well What didn’t go to plan

We completed six performance audits.

We published 15 other pieces of work.

Audited public organisations continue to rate our performance as at least “satisfactory”.

We didn’t meet some of our timeliness targets for our performance audits because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on our staff availability.

This service is funded through the appropriation Statutory Auditor Function MCA, Performance Audits and Inquiries Category. The amount appropriated for this category in the Main Estimates for 2021/22 was $11.875 million. 

The Public Audit Act 2001 allows the Auditor-General to assess the performance and accountability of public organisations, particular sectors, and the entire public sector.

Performance audits, special studies, and other evaluation and assessment work we do are an important part of our work programme. Each year, we publish our planned work programme. This year's work programme was set out in our Annual plan 2021/22. Appendix 4 describes our progress on that work.

Performance audits form a critical part of our work programme. The purpose of our performance audits is to help improve public sector performance and provide assurance to Parliament and the public that public organisations are operating effectively and efficiently.

Performance audits allow us to examine areas that are not typically covered in our annual audits and to make recommendations to improve public sector performance. We also monitor the progress of public organisations in implementing our recommendations from these performance audits.

In 2021/22, we worked on 15 performance audits and completed six of these. We aim to complete eight of the remaining nine performance audits before December 2022. The remaining performance audit will be completed by March 2023. Appendix 3 details the six published performance audit reports and 15 other publications we published this year. These publications are on our website.

Quantity measures

Indicator: Number of performance audit reports issued during the year
Target: Not applicable

Year Result
2021/22 6
2020/21 9
2019/20 4
2018/19 New measure for 2019/20

Indicator: Number of other publications issued during the year
Target: Not applicable

Year Result
2021/22 15
2020/21 9
2019/20 14
2018/19 New measure for 2019/20

”Other publications” are our research reports, sector reports and letters, good practice guides, and any other publications that have been published on our website but have not been reported elsewhere.

Indicator: Number of audit and risk committee chair forums facilitated
Target: At least eight (two per quarter)

Year Result
2021/22 9 audit and risk committee chair forums
2020/21 New measure for 2021/22

This is a new measure for 2021/22 as part of our focus on supporting effective governance, accountability, and transparency of public organisations. This year, we facilitated nine audit and risk committee chair forums to raise matters of mutual interest and discuss good practice.

Quality measures

Indicator: Percentage of performance audits that substantially meet the Auditor-General’s process and reporting quality criteria (as determined by quality assurance review)
Target: 100%

Year Result
2021/22 100% (Australian National Audit Office external review)
2020/21 100% when last assessed in 2019/20
2019/20 100% (Quality Assurance team internal review)
2018/19 Revised measure for 2019/20

The Australian National Audit Office carries out an external peer review of our performance audit function every two years. The most recent external review was in 2021/22. Our Quality Assurance team carries out an internal peer review of our performance audit function every three years. The most recent internal review was in 2019/20.

Indicator: Percentage of audited entities that rate our performance audits as at least “satisfactory”
Target: At least 85%

Year Result
2021/22 100%
2020/21 93%
2019/20 88%
2018/19 Revised measure for 2019/20

We surveyed the eight public organisations that participated in the six performance audits we completed in 2021/22. We received seven responses. All seven responses rated our performance audits as at least “satisfactory”.

We used a five-point survey scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. We assess that the responses were at least “satisfactory” if the public organisation responded with agree or strongly agree.

Timeliness measures

The performance audits in our work programme can be complex and involve managing many dependencies that can affect timeliness. We will continue to look at how we set performance audit time frames, how we can better manage dependencies, and how we can make the insights from our work available in a timely way.

In 2021/22, we completed 75% of our performance audits within 10 months and 67% within six months.

Indicator: Percentage of performance audits that are concluded and their findings reported within six months
Target: At least 10%

Year Result
2021/22 67%
2020/21 11%
2019/20 New measure for 2020/21
2018/19 New measure for 2020/21

Indicator: Percentage of performance audits that are concluded and their findings reported within 10 months
Target: At least 70%

Year Result
2021/22 75%
2020/21 56%
2019/20 New measure for 2020/21
2018/19 New measure for 2020/21

Indicator: Percentage of performance audits that are concluded and their findings reported within 12 months
Target: 100%

Year Result
2021/22 75%
2020/21 89%
2019/20 New measure for 2020/21
2018/19 New measure for 2020/21

We revised our timeliness measure in 2020/21 to provide more transparency. The previous measure assessed the timeliness of performance audits against expected time frames. The methodology we now apply excludes periods where work is delayed because of matters beyond our control – for example, a slow response from an organisation for an information request. Follow-up work is included in our timeliness measures, which can include entity self-assessments or full follow-up reports.

Indicator: Percentage of other publications concluded, and their findings reported within the expected time-period**
Target: At least 75%

Year Result
2021/22 60%
2020/21 88%
2019/20 New measure for 2020/21
2018/19 New measure for 2020/21

** The expected period for other publications is the financial year we first stated the work would be completed in an annual plan.