New Zeeland 2008 ENG

Report on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General of New Zealand by an International Peer Review Team.

The review will assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Office, in particular how well the Office is achieving the outcomes it seeks.The review will cover:

the governance of the Office, including the respective roles of and relationship between the Office of the Auditor-General and Audit New Zealand
the conduct of financial audit engagements, including the audit of Long-term Council Community Plans (LTCCP);
the conduct of performance audits, inquiries, the Controller function, and other work performed by the Office of the Auditor-General, including the support of select committees;
general management of the Office, including the organisation of resources, the allocation of audits, and setting and monitoring of audit fees;
the operation of the Office’s quality control systems;
the Office’s relationships with its primary stakeholders, in particular Parliament; and
such other matters as the review team considers relevant.

Following consideration of the Terms of Reference, it was decided that the Review would cover three segments of the operations of the Office as follows:

Governance and Management (including all Corporate Services)
Financial Statement and Assurance Auditing (including the Controller Function and LTCCP audits); and
Performance Auditing, Good Practice Guides and Inquiries.

Particular issues examined by the Review Team included the organisation and structure of the Office (covering the role and effectiveness of sector managers and any apparent duplication of activities); relationships with its various stakeholders; audit planning, selection, methodology and conduct (including contestable and “allocation” approaches to auditor selection and the coverage and conduct of “enhanced” financial statement audits); knowledge management, performance management and assessment; quality assurance; implementation of audit findings and recommendations; and the complex and rapidly-changing nature of the work of the Office.

Review Team Members

Pat Barrett

Neil Walter

Mark Davies

David McKean

Clyde MacLellan