This report contains the results of our audits of 4 areas of common business practice and related controls. These audits were performed as an extension of our 2016-17 annual financial audits at 15 agencies, covering:

• Agency contract registers
• Management and oversight of internal audit
• Financial delegations
• Recording, custody and disposal of portable and attractive assets.

Our audit of agency contract registers assessed whether agencies are complying with Treasurer’s Instruction 820 Register of Contracts, effective from September 2016, and whether contract registers record key information about their contracts. Overall, most agencies’ contract registers either did not have all key information required by Treasurer’s Instruction 820 or the information was incorrect. However, we found that agencies generally had adequate records of contract renewals and variations.

The Management and oversight of internal audit considered selected aspects of the internal audit function, whether audit findings were actioned in a timely manner, and assessed the oversight of internal audit by audit committees. Our findings were generally satisfactory.

Our audit of Financial delegations evaluated whether agencies have implemented suitable financial delegations and are complying with those delegations. The audit covered key financial delegations, including procurement, payments, payroll and journal entries. We found that delegations had been set and were being complied with for most key transactions, however accounting journal entries were being approved by staff who had not been formally delegated their authority.

For our audit of Recording, custody and disposal of portable and attractive assets, we evaluated whether agencies have adequate controls for attractive assets that are not required to be reported in the financial statements. We found that controls over recording and tracking these assets had not improved since our similar audit in 2013.

Overall, these audits showed some room for improvement in all 4 areas. I trust this report provides an insight to good practice, so all agencies including those not audited, can consider their own performance.