2016/17

A list of our work produced between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017.
Health sector: Results of the 2014/15 audits

August 2016: In general, district health boards are doing reasonably well at marshalling their resources for current operational needs. However, our analysis of their financial statements for successive years suggests that their planning for the future and ability to deal with uncertainty or changing circumstances is limited.

Auckland Council: How it deals with complaints

August 2016: As part of our periodic reviews of the Council's service performance, we audited the Council's complaints-handling process. Overall, the Council has a focus on resolving complaints, and most are dealt with in a timely manner. But it could do better in some aspects – in particular, collecting information from the complainant's perspective.

Annual Report 2015/16

September 2016, ISSN 1179-8963: The Annual Report 2015/16 reports on our achievements and progress towards our outcomes and strategic intentions during 2015/16.

Summary of our Education for Māori reports

October 2016: Every child in New Zealand deserves to thrive physically, academically, socially, and culturally. However, too many Māori children leave school without the education they deserve.

Assessing the performance of the Office of the Auditor-General against International Standards

November 2016: This report presents the overall results of our own assessment using the Supreme Audit Institution Performance Measurement Framework. Both this and the detailed report have been peer reviewed by the INTOSAI Development Initiative. The assessment has identified strengths in the Office's operating environment, audit work, and management, as well as areas for further attention.

Governance of the National Security System

November 2016: In our view, the governance arrangements for responding to national security events and emergencies are well established, fundamentally sound, and fit for purpose. The response to Operation Concord was an example of the National Security System working well. New Zealand’s security system has some of the characteristics of a world-class system.

Central government: Results of the 2015/16 audits

December 2016: This report discusses the 2016 audit findings of, and the opinion we issued for, the financial statements of the Government. For the first time this year, we have included “key audit matters” in our audit report on the financial statements of the Government. Reporting on key audit matters is a new requirement for selected entities under a new international auditing standard. We decided to apply this standard to the audit of the Government’s 2015/16 financial statements because we considered this to be of use to the readers of these accounts. We have produced what we believe is the world’s first audit report on government financial statements to include a section on key audit matters.

Results of the 2015 school audits

December 2016: We reported on the results of the 2015 school audits to the Ministry of Education on 21 October 2016. This information, on the completion of the 2015 school audits and the types of opinions we issued, was included in our report to the Ministry of Education.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority: Assessing its effectiveness and efficiency

January 2017: In our view, CERA did well early on in the recovery. CERA was also effective in leading a co-ordinated government response to the earthquakes. However, CERA found it challenging to maintain momentum. Its role became less clear as it took on more responsibility for delivering more projects and programmes. CERA did not engage the community well, and struggled to demonstrate its effectiveness and value for money because it had inadequate performance measures and information. It also took a long time for CERA to set up effective systems and controls. CERA’s management controls and performance information needed improvement right up to the time of its disestablishment.

Investing in tertiary education assets

February 2017: This report considers the effectiveness of investment in tertiary education sector assets to support educational success. There is an opportunity for education agencies, tertiary education institutions, and other stakeholders to explore the measurement of the effectiveness of investments in assets, and the potential opportunities for more sector-based investment decisions. We hope that this report will start conversations in the tertiary sector about the further development and reporting of a range of cost-effectiveness measures and tools, for the sector and for individual institutions.

Inquiry into aspects of Auckland Council’s Westgate/Massey North town centre project

January 2017: We looked into specific aspects of Auckland Council’s project to develop a new town centre in Massey North. One of the concerns raised with us was about the lack of transparency, in particular being unable to access information about the project. In our view, Auckland Council could have made more information about this development available. It is important that local authorities strike the right balance between balancing commercial sensitivity, maintaining legal privilege as appropriate and being open with ratepayers and elected officials. Such openness allows public discussion and debate, and is essential to supporting public sector accountability. This exercise has highlighted once again the importance not just of making good decisions but also of being able to show that good decisions have been made.

AgResearch Future Footprint Project: our targeted review of the updated business case

March 2017: As a follow-up to our 2015 letter, which included the results of our review of the AgResearch Future Footprint Project business case, we have now reviewed the updated business case. The five matters we raised in our initial review of the Future Footprint Project business case have been addressed, to varying degrees, in the updated business case. Overall, we are satisfied that the matters raised in our earlier review have been adequately addressed.

Medium-term planning in government departments: Four-year plans

March 2017: For this report, we reviewed some four-year plans to see whether they appropriately set out a department’s medium-term view of where it was heading, what it would look like in the future, and how it would get there. The central agencies and departments need to do more work to achieve a consistently good standard of four-year plans throughout government. We encourage departments and the central agencies to consider our suggestions for improvements so these plans can become increasingly useful and used.

Immigration New Zealand: Delivering transformational change

April 2017: This report outlines how Immigration New Zealand turned a project that was at risk of failing into a business transformation programme that was delivered broadly on time and to budget. We encourage other public sector entities to consider the good management practices highlighted in Part 4 of this report when planning change and putting it in place.

Inquiry into state schools requesting payments in connection with out-of-zone places

May 2017: Our inquiry looked into the practice of five Auckland state schools that asked for payments in connection with out-of-zone enrolment applications for the 2016 and 2017 school years. We found one school asking for this kind of fee and have recommended that it cease doing so. In the schools we visited that asked for donations, we found that the donations were voluntary and that a child’s chance of gaining an out-of-zone place was not affected by their family’s decision about whether to pay the donation. However, we also found that some of the schools’ enrolment material should have been clearer that the donations were voluntary and not required for applications to be processed. We also found that the Ministry needs to improve its guidance to schools and ensure that schools are given coherent and consistent advice on payments in connection with out-of-zone places.

Managing the assets that distribute electricity

June 2017: We looked at how electricity distribution businesses were managing, maintaining, and investing in their networks to ensure that they could provide services to consumers for the long term.

Border security: Using information to process passengers

June 2017: In our view, the border agencies are operating effectively. There are differences in the quality of some of the information the agencies receive. This affects how efficiently the information is used. We also looked at whether frontline staff have the systems, tools, and resources to best use and share information, and whether there is effective collaboration between the agencies. Improvements should be made in both areas to ensure that information is used in the most efficient way. New Zealand Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries also need to continue to develop their approach to workforce planning to improve their ability to efficiently deploy staff.

Annual Plan 2017/18

June 2017: Our Annual Plan describes our 2017/18 work programme and signals our future work programmes for 2018/19 and 2019/20.