Ottawa, 15 June 2010—The Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, today provided the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee with the results of an international peer review of her Office. She also provided her Office’s written response to the report, which includes an action plan for improvements suggested by the reviewers. The review was carried out by a team led by the Australian National Audit Office with representatives from the national audit offices of the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
The peer review was undertaken at the Auditor General’s request, and its purpose was twofold: to assess to what extent the Office’s systems and practices are appropriately designed to ensure the quality of its audits, and whether they are being implemented effectively.
“An effective quality management system means that Parliament can rely on our reports when using them to examine the government’s performance and hold it to account,” said Ms. Fraser.
Members of the peer review team from the Australian National Audit Office appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on 21 October 2009 to discuss the scope and objective of the review. The reviewers looked at all three types of audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General: performance audits, special examinations, and financial audits.
Performance audits determine whether government programs are managed with due regard to economy, efficiency, and environmental impact, and whether there are measures in place to determine their effectiveness. Financial audits determine whether federal organizations are keeping proper accounts and records and presenting their financial information in accordance with recognized standards. Special examinations determine whether a Crown corporation’s systems and practices provide reasonable assurance that assets are safeguarded, resources are managed economically and efficiently, and operations are carried out effectively.
The review team found that the quality management system was suitably designed and operating effectively for the performance audit and special examination practices. For the financial audit practice, the team found that the system was suitably designed and generally operating effectively but noted that risk assessment and documentation needed attention.
“Previous peer reviews have led to improvements in our practices, and this one, too, identified some opportunities to improve,” said Ms. Fraser. “We have developed an action plan for implementing the review team’s recommendations, which we have provided to the Public Accounts Committee.”
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“International Peer Review of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada” and “Response to the 2010 Peer Review Report” as well as background information about Performance Audits, Financial Audits, and Special Examinations are available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada Web site.
