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10th ASOSAI Research Project
Australian National Audit Office (ANAO)
9-13 December 2012
Dr Thomas ClarkeExecutive Director
Performance Audit Services GroupAustralian National Audit Office
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Where do I come from?
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Australia
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The role of the Auditor-General in the Australian system of
government Australia’s Auditor-General and the Australian
National Audit Office (ANAO) audits the activities of the Australian (national) government
The Australian approach to auditing falls broadly within the Westminster tradition of responsible government (parliamentary democracy)
The Auditor-General is independent and derives his authority from an Act of Parliament.
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The Westminster model and the separation of powers
Executive(Government)
The power to IMPLEMENT laws
Prime Minister and Cabinet
Government Departments
Legislature(Parliament)
The power to MAKE laws
House of Representatives Senate
Functions of Parliament:· Representation · Scrutiny · Formation of government · Legislation
Judiciary
The power to decide whether laws are legal
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What does the Auditor-General do?
The law says that the Auditor-General is to conduct annual financial statement audits of Australian
government agency accounts (focus on assurance) and performance audits ( focus on improving public
administration (management))ANAO is small – around 300 staff (about 110
performance auditors, 150 financial statements auditors, and 40 corporate support staff)
Performance audit reports are made public and may make recommendations for improvements in administration. Around 50-55 performance audits conducted annually
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What does the ANAO do to audit the risk of fraud/corruption/money
laundering?Very little! That is why I am here – to learn.
We do not observe much in the way of fraud/money laundering within the agencies we audit the risk of non-financial corruption is higher, and we have
observed it.
BUT
Australia has a large overseas aid program that delivers aid in countries with different perceptions (and probably higher levels) of fraud/corruption/money laundering risk.This is a key audit risk for our performance audit program
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Closing reflections
Key questions: What is the real level of fraud/corruption/money
laundering risk in the agencies we audit?Are we not finding much fraud/money laundering
because it is not very common, or because we are not looking for it?
Would our staff recognise fraud/money laundering if they saw it?What techniques could they apply to assess whether agencies
are managing these risks effectively?
Thank you for the opportunity to listen and learn from my ASOSAI colleagues!
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Further information
Web: www.anao.gov.auAddress: GPO Box 707, Canberra ACT
2601 Australia
Email: [email protected]: 61 (0)2 6203 7436
