Performance and legislative review
The Joint Standing Committee on Audit this year commenced its performance review of the Office with a review of our legislation to follow shortly after. This is something we have been anticipating for some time and look forward to receiving the report in late 2015. These reviews should provide important assurance to the Parliament about the performance of the Office and the suitability of the Act (page 53).
Early delivery of audit opinions and high client satisfaction
We were able to deliver our audit opinions to agencies in less time this year than our target and in less time than the previous four years (page 26). The earlier the opinion is issued the sooner agencies are able to finalise their reporting requirements for Parliament. We also received higher client satisfaction results this year, with 91 per cent of our financial audit clients agreeing that our audit program was undertaken in a timely manner and 94 per cent agreeing that our management letters clearly communicated the audit findings and issues (page 33).
New approach to report writing
This year we expanded the involvement of our Communications Branch in the production of our reports to Parliament (page 67). Their involvement is now much earlier on in the process and is aimed at increasing the focus on report structure, key messaging and plain English. We have seen efficiency and quality gains, with many reporting issues addressed before it gets to senior management proofing stage.
Highest Members of Parliament satisfaction rating in over ten years
Our annual Members of Parliament survey contained some excellent results, with 97 per cent expressing overall satisfaction with the Auditor General’s reports and services (90 per cent in 2013-14). This is our highest satisfaction rating in over 10 years. We also saw a significant increase in the number of Members who agreed that we were effective in meeting our outcome of informing Parliament on accountability and performance in the public sector, from 78 per cent last year to 90 per cent this year (page 30).
Making a difference – ongoing impact of our reports
We continue to see our reports informing, influencing or directly resulting in positive changes to public sector accountability and performance. This year some examples where our reports have had an impact, include the release of a draft state CCTV strategy, a decision to fund water pipeline repairs in the Wheatbelt and a reform of the governance structure of Healthway (page 38). Our reports often have a life long after they are tabled in Parliament and we continue to see the impact for many years. Our report The Planning and Management of Perth Arena was tabled in March 2010 and yet it was our sixth most downloaded report this year (page 40), which demonstrates ongoing interest in state major capital projects.