Publications produced during 2024

This is a list of the publications produced in 2024 (the most recent items are listed first).
Cover image - Nov 07, 2024 Assessing New Zealand’s climate change response with ClimateScanner

7 November 2024: Our office is one of more than 100 audit institutions participating in the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions’ ClimateScanner initiative. ClimateScanner requires supreme audit institutions to assess how governments are responding to climate change. This report summarises the results of our rapid assessment. It provides a broad overview of government actions to respond to climate change and highlights areas for improvement.

Cover image - Nov 05, 2024 How well four councils are responding to a changing climate

5 November 2024: We looked at the actions of Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City Council, Nelson City Council, and Whanganui District Council in responding to the local impacts of climate change. All four councils are making progress with their responses to climate change and doing so in an uncertain and evolving national policy environment.

Cover image - Nov 01, 2024 Ministry of Health: Management of personal protective equipment in response to Covid-19 follow-up

1 November 2024: In June 2020, we independently reviewed the Ministry of Health’s management of national reserve supplies during the early stages of New Zealand’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on personal protective equipment. This letter summarises what we have been told by the Ministry about its progress in implementing our 10 recommendations and sets out our comments.

Cover image - Oct 18, 2024 Controller update: October 2024

18 October 2024: This update explains recent events in Parliament’s authorising of public expenditure and our work in monitoring government spending.

Cover image - Oct 16, 2024 Annual report 2023/24

16 October 2024: This 2023/24 annual report describes the work we have carried out to demonstrate how we will achieve our ultimate outcome – that Parliament and the public have trust and confidence in New Zealand’s public sector.

Cover image - Oct 09, 2024 Funding for Gumboot Friday/I Am Hope

9 October 2024: We wrote to the Ministry of Health about the procurement of services from Gumboot Friday/I am Hope without an open, transparent, and competitive procurement process.

Cover image - Sep 26, 2024 Improving Auckland Council’s emergency preparedness: A follow-up report

26 September 2024: In June 2023, we published a report that looked at Auckland Council's preparedness for responding to an emergency. In our follow-up work we found that since the 2023 floods, Auckland Council has made significant steps towards setting up a well-functioning emergency response system, in line with review recommendations. It now needs to focus on ensuring that its new systems and processes are thoroughly tested and practised, and that everybody involved in responding to an emergency is aware of and fully supported to carry out their role.

Cover image - Aug 20, 2024 Insights into local government: 2023

20 August 2024: Each year, we produce reports that summarise what we’ve observed in different parts of the public sector and set out the results of our audits in that sector for the latest audited year.

Cover image - Jul 30, 2024 Testing the water: How councils report on drinking water quality

30 July 2024: Councils that supply drinking water achieved just under 60% of their targets for water supply measures in 2022/23. We encourage councils to investigate the reasons for non-compliance with drinking water standards and prioritise remedial actions, particularly where this could affect water quality and safety.

Cover image - Jun 27, 2024 Annual plan 2024/25

27 June 2024: Our annual plan outlines our programme of work for 2024/25, which includes performance audits, special studies, regular reports and updates, and good practice guidance. This work considers issues facing the public sector and how we can best use our role to influence positive change.

Cover image - Jun 21, 2024 Value for money – a simply complex problem

21 June 2024: Value for money is an important measure of public sector performance that helps public organisations to strike the right balance between what is spent and what is achieved. In this article, the Auditor-General describes the public sector’s challenge with defining, assessing, and reporting on value for money.

Cover image - May 27, 2024 Reading Cinema proposal

27 May 2024: We have replied to Councillor Ray Chung about his request that we investigate the proposed deal between Wellington City Council and Reading Cinemas.

Cover image - May 21, 2024 Regional councils’ relationships with iwi and hapu for freshwater management – a follow-up report

21 May 2024: In 2019, we looked at how effectively Waikato Regional Council, Taranaki Regional Council, Horizons Regional Council, and Environment Southland were managing freshwater quality. We followed up with all four regional councils and spoke with iwi and hapū representatives to see what progress the regional councils had made in response to recommendations we made in 2019 about managing freshwater quality.

Cover image - May 17, 2024 The increasing use of multi-year appropriations

17 May 2024: The number of multi-year appropriations (MYAs) has increased significantly over the last eight years. MYAs give government departments flexibility in spending but risk lessening Parliamentary control and scrutiny over the Government’s spending plans.

Cover image - May 10, 2024 Accounting for climate change

10 May 2024: We have produced a guide to considering the implications of climate costs, risks, and uncertainties in your financial reporting.

Cover image - May 07, 2024 General Election 2023: Independent review of counting errors

7 May 2024: After discussion with the Electoral Commission, we decided to review the Electoral Commission’s quality assurance processes for counting votes. We found that there is room to strengthen the way that votes are counted and recorded, and how this process is checked.

Cover image - Apr 22, 2024 Submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill

22 April 2024: The Auditor-General has provided a submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, encouraging the Environment Committee to consider whether the transparency and accountability arrangements in the Bill are proportionate to the discretion being provided to Ministers.