Service 5: Assess public sector performance and accountability
| What went well | What didn’t go to plan |
|---|---|
| We completed 11 performance audits and published 12 other pieces of work. Audited public organisations continue to rate our performance as at least “satisfactory”. |
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect audit timeliness. |
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 2022/23 was $12.419 million.
Performance audits, special studies, research, and other evaluation and assessment work we do are an important part of our work. Each year, we publish our planned work programme in our annual plan. Appendix 4: Progress against our 2022/23 work programme describes our progress against our work programme.
Performance audits form a significant part of our work programme. The purpose of our performance audits is to help public organisations improve their performance and to provide assurance to Parliament and the public that they are operating effectively and efficiently.
Performance audits allow us to examine areas that are not typically covered in our annual audits and make recommendations to improve public sector performance. We also monitor the progress of public organisations in implementing our recommendations from our performance audits.
In 2022/23, we worked on 16 performance audits and completed 11 pieces of work. We aim to complete the remaining five performance audits before December 2023. Appendix 3 lists the publications we completed during 2022/23.
Quantity measures
Indicator: Number of performance audit reports issued during the year*
Target: Not applicable
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11 |
| 2021/22 | 6 |
| 2020/21 | 9 |
| 2019/20 | 4 |
| 2018/19 | New measure for 2019/20 |
* “Performance audit reports” includes performance audits, performance audit follow-up reports, and performance audit follow-up self-assessments.
Indicator: Number of other publications issued during the year*
Target: Not applicable
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12 |
| 2021/22 | 15 |
| 2020/21 | 9 |
| 2019/20 | 14 |
| 2018/19 | New measure for 2019/20 |
* “Other publications” are our research reports, sector reports, 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 |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6 |
| 2021/22 | 9 |
| 2020/21 | New measure for 2021/22 |
This was a new measure from 2021/22 as part of our focus on supporting effective governance, accountability, and transparency of public organisations. This year we facilitated six audit and risk committee chair forums. The forums bring together audit and risk committee chairpersons from the public sector to raise matters of mutual interest and discuss good practice. We did not reach our target of eight forums because some forums planned for the fourth quarter were deferred to 2023/24. However, we expect this will result in the target being exceeded in 2023/24.
Timeliness measures
Our performance audits 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, better manage dependencies, and make the insights from our work available in a timely way. In 2022/23, we worked on 16 performance audits and completed 11 of these.
Indicator: Percentage of performance audits that are concluded and their findings reported within six months
Target: At least 10%
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 36% |
| 2021/22 | 67% |
| 2020/21 | 11% |
| 2019/20 | 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 |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 36% |
| 2021/22 | 75% |
| 2020/21 | 56% |
| 2019/20 | New measure for 2020/21 |
Indicator: Percentage of performance audits that are concluded and their findings reported within 12 months
Target: 100%
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 45% |
| 2021/22 | 75% |
| 2020/21 | 89% |
| 2019/20 | 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. Follow-up work is included in our timeliness measures, which can include public organisations carrying out self-assessments or full follow-up reports.
In 2022/23 we worked on 16 performance audits and completed 11 of these. We aim to complete the remaining five performance audits before December 2023. Of the completed performance audits, four were completed within 10 months and five were completed within 12 months. The remaining performance audits were completed outside of expected timeframes.
Indicator: Percentage of other publications concluded and their findings reported within the expected time period*
Target: At least 75%
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42% |
| 2021/22 | 60% |
| 2020/21 | 88% |
| 2019/20 | New measure for 2020/21 |
* This includes research reports, sector reports and letters, good practice guides, and any other publication that has been published on the Auditor-General’s website.
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 |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 100% (Quality Assurance team internal review) |
| 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 2022/23.
Indicator: Percentage of audited entities that rate our performance audits as at least “satisfactory”
Target: At least 85%
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 100% |
| 2021/22 | 100% |
| 2020/21 | 93% |
| 2019/20 | 88% |
| 2018/19 | Revised measure for 2019/20 |
In 2022/23 we received survey responses from 12 public organisations that we had previously audited.
We used a five-point survey scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” across severaldimensions. We assess that the responses were at least “satisfactory” if the organisation responded with “neutral”, “agree”, or “strongly agree” to most questions.
All 12 organisations that responded to our survey rated our performance audits as at least “satisfactory”.