The purpose of this report is to provide City Council with an overview of the work the Auditor General plans to conduct during 2015. It also contains a synopsis of the work undertaken during the past few years:
- Appendix 1 contains the Auditor General’s 2015 Audit Work Plan
- Appendix 2 includes a summary of a backlog of audits reports
- Appendix 3 lists amendments to the 2014 Audit Work Plan projects
- Appendix 4 includes audits completed during the period 2010 to 2014
The 2015 Audit Work Plan provides City Council with an overview of how the resources that have been allocated to the Auditor General’s Office will be used during 2015.
The audits that will be undertaken as part of the 2015 Audit Work Plan will provide independent information for City Council to hold City administrators accountable for providing stewardship over public funds and for achieving value for money in City operations. The information will help City administrators improve City operations, mitigate risks, strengthen management controls, improve accountability and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of City services.
The Work Plan includes audits in progress, new audit projects, annual recurring projects, follow-up audits and the Fraud and Waste Hotline investigative work. Follow-up audits are conducted to ensure that management has taken appropriate action to implement the recommendations from past audit and investigative reports. The Auditor General may revise the Work Plan as new information arises.
The Auditor General undertakes a risk-based audit approach. Every five years the Auditor General performs an extensive city-wide risk assessment of the City operations and its major agencies and corporations. The risk-assessment is a major undertaking that includes a city-wide survey and detailed interviews with senior city officials and City Councillors. The assessment is used to identify the high risk areas so that audit work can be prioritized. The city-wide risk assessment also builds knowledge of the audit environment.
The Audit Work Plan includes projects identified from preliminary results of the risk assessment. The final risk assessment will be reported to the May 22, 2015 Audit Committee meeting. The results will be used to update the 2015 Audit Work Plan and to prepare the Audit Work Plans for future years.