Our intended impacts
Our impacts are the overall public sector improvements we contribute to. Our annual audit and inquiry reports and recommendations and our performance audits help public organisations to improve. Encouraging public organisations to implement our recommendations is an important way we can help improve public sector performance and accountability.
| What went well | What didn't go to plan |
|---|---|
| Our survey of select committees showed that our advice is effective in helping them scrutinise the public sector. Public organisations responded positively to the findings and recommendations we made in our performance audits and inquiry work. Our work had a strong public profile and media coverage. |
Instances of unappropriated expenditure increased slightly. |
Impact 1: Parliament provides effective scrutiny of the public sector
Our advice and reports to parliamentary select committees help them to hold the public sector to account. The information we provide must be relevant, reliable, and timely. We formally and informally assess feedback. Both confirm that our reports and advice to Parliament are effective and support Parliament in its scrutiny of public organisations.
We formally measure this by surveying parliamentary select committee chairpersons every two years on whether our advice and reports were helpful. Satisfaction with our advice and reports has been consistently high. The survey results reported here pre-date the Office's support to select committees for the first Scrutiny Week in June 2024, but informal feedback since Scrutiny Week indicates continued high satisfaction.
Indicator: Our advice and reports help select committees scrutinise the public sector more effectively
| Measure | 2023/24 | Change | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our advice and reports help select committees scrutinise the public sector more effectively | 100% | - | Not assessed | 100% | Not assessed | 100% |
| Target: 100% | Achieved | |||||
| Source: Our surveys of select committee chairpersons, which are carried out every two years. The most recent survey was completed in 2023/24. | ||||||
Impact 2: New Zealanders are better informed about the performance and accountability of the public sector
We aim to focus our work on issues that are important to New Zealanders.
We measure this through the number of citations in the media about our work. The number of citations was virtually identical to 2022/23 (1712 compared to 1710).
This year we saw substantial media coverage of several pieces of our work. The highest-profiled pieces included our submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill; our inquiry work on conflicts of interest at Callaghan Innovation, procurement at the University of Waikato, and the 2023 election results; our performance audit work on the New Zealand Upgrade and Shovel-Ready programmes and youth mental health; and our assurance work on councils' long-term plans.
Indicator: New Zealand media provides increased coverage of our reports and letters
| Measure | 2023/24 | Change | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand media provides increased coverage of our reports and letters | Increasing 1712 | +2 | Increasing 1710 | Decreasing 1487 | Increasing 1621 | Increasing 1454 |
| Target: Increasing | Achieved |
Impact 3: The public sector improves its performance and accountability
We look at a range of activities to assess whether we are having a positive influence on the performance and accountability of the public sector.
We determine whether government departments are incurring expenditure only within the authority provided by Parliament. We also assess whether public organisations have improved aspects of their performance in response to our performance audits and inquiries, and assess whether they have implemented our annual audit recommendations.
Controller function
The 2023/24 result shows how many times unappropriated expenditure occurred in 2022/23. There has been a steady increase in the number of instances of unappropriated expenditure since 2020/21, with 16 instances reported in the Government's financial statements for 2022/23.
Indicator: Government departments reduce the instances of public spending without parliamentary authority
| Measure | 2023/24 | Change | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government departments reduce the instances of public spending without parliamentary authority | 16 (Increasing) | +2 | 14 (Increasing) | 12 (Reducing) | 30 (Increasing) | 19 (Increasing) |
| Target: Reducing | Not achieved | |||||
| Each reported figure represents the instances of unauthorised expenditure for the previous financial year. This is because finalised current-year figures are not available when we prepare our annual report. We have revised the 2022/23 figure from 12 to 14 because two additional instances of unauthorised expenditure were identified after we prepared our 2022/23 annual report. |
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Annual audits
To help the public sector improve, at the end of each audit the governors of public organisations receive a report setting out audit findings and recommendations. Implementing recommendations helps public organisations to manage issues, reduce risks, and realise additional benefits of the audit.
Part of our annual audit includes identifying and reporting on how public organisations have responded to past recommendations.
We measure the impact of our work by assessing large public organisations' implementation of our recommendations. A number of factors affect whether a public organisation implements our recommendations. Timeliness of delivering management reports (including recommendations), the scale of change recommended, and the capacity and willingness of the organisation to make change all affect the implementation speed.
In 2023/24, we assessed how 131 large public organisations implemented the recommendations from our audits. Of the 1455 recommendations we had made at the beginning of 2023/24, 542 (37%) were implemented by the end of the financial year.
Indicator: Public entities implement our annual audit recommendations in a timely manner
| Measure | 2023/24 | Change | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proportion of large public entities that implement our annual audit recommendations in a timely manner | 37% | +1% | 36% | 43% | 38% | 46% |
| Target: Increasing (or at least maintained) | Achieved | |||||
| The number of large public organisations can vary. For 2023/24, 131 were considered large organisations (they included tertiary education institutions, government departments, and councils). The number was 116 in 2022/23, 128 in 2021/22, and 195 in 2020/21. | ||||||
Performance audits
We carry out performance audits to help public organisations improve their effectiveness and efficiency. We provide more details of our performance audit work in Service 5: Assess public sector performance and accountability.
Between 12 and 24 months after a performance audit report is published, we ask the audited organisation to self-assess their progress against each of the recommendations we made in the report. The public organisation's self-assessment informs decisions about whether we will carry out any further follow-up work and the extent of the work we might do.
In 2023/24, we followed up on how public organisations had responded to six performance audits. We published the responses from the audited organisations on our website. Highlights of the impacts achieved as reported in our follow-up work are set out in Part 3 of this report. We assess this indicator as "achieved" if there is evidence of public organisations making changes in response to our recommendations in at least two of our follow-ups.
Indicator: Public organisations have improved aspects of their performance in response to our performance audits
| Measure | 2023/24 | Change | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public organisations have improved aspects of their performance in response to our performance audits | Achieved | - | Achieved | Achieved | Achieved | Results not available |
| Target: Report on one to two follow-ups a year | Achieved |
Inquiries
The Auditor-General decides whether to inquire into issues of concern that are raised with us or that we identify through our intelligence-gathering and other work. Our inquiries seek to understand what has happened and what lessons there are for the public sector. Our findings help public organisations improve their performance and accountability. We provide more details of the inquiries process in Service 4: Carry out inquiries into matters of public interest.
In 2023/24, we conducted two major inquiries: one into Callaghan Innovation's procurement process for its Start Up programme, and one into errors in counting votes in the 2023 General Election.6 Part 3 of this report sets out highlights of the steps taken in response to our inquiries.
Indicator: Public entities have improved aspects of their performance in response to our inquiries
| Measure | 2023/24 | Change | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public entities have improved aspects of their performance in response to our inquiries | Achieved | - | Achieved | Achieved | Achieved | Achieved |
| Target: Report on one to two each year | Achieved |
6: Our independent review of counting errors done for the Electoral Commission had the characteristics of an inquiry under section 18 of the Public Audit Act 2001, except that we carried out the work as a service under section 17 of the same Act and recovered our costs