The purpose of this report is to provide City Council with an overview of the work the Auditor General plans to conduct during 2016. It also includes a summary of the work the Auditor General could undertake with additional funding over the next three years.
This report contains the following:
- Appendix 1 – Auditor General’s 2016 Audit Work Plan (Existing Resources)
- Appendix 2 – Projects Planned For 2017 And 2018 (Existing Resources)
- Appendix 3 – 2016-2018 Additional Projects with Additional Resources
- Appendix 4 – Summary of the Backlog of Audits
- Appendix 5 – 2015 Audit Work Plan – Deferred Audit Projects
- Appendix 6 – Summary Statistics and Detailed Listing of Audit Reports 2011 to 2015
The 2016 Audit Work Plan provides City Council with an overview of how the resources allocated to the Auditor General’s Office will be used in 2016.
The audits that will be undertaken in 2016 will provide independent information for City Council to hold City administrators accountable for providing stewardship over public funds; strengthen management controls and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of City services.
The Work Plan includes a list of audits in progress, new audit projects, data analytics and continuous monitoring projects, Fraud and Waste Hotline investigative work and followup audits. 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 assessment of the operations of the City and its major agencies and corporations to establish audit priorities. The assessment is a major undertaking that includes a citywide survey and detailed interviews with senior City officials and City Councillors.
The Auditor General completed her assessment in 2015. The assessment included a survey of 188 organizational units within the City, and agencies and corporations under the Auditor General’s mandate. The risk assessment identified 55 priority audit areas.
The 2016 Audit Work Plan includes projects identified as priority from the latest assessment. The Auditor General’s limited resources impacts the number of high priority projects that can be included in the 2016 audit plan. Given current resources, completion of the priority projects identified in the latest risk assessment would take over five years. To address these priority audit areas on a timelier basis, we have requested additional funding for our operations. Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 provides a three year projection and comparison of projects completed with or without these resources. Appendix 4 includes a summary of backlog projects.
In addition, audit standards require that specialists be hired in certain projects to ensure there is sufficient technical knowledge on the audit team. The Auditor General plans to use specialists in Information Technology and other specialized areas to perform reviews that are technical in nature. A small amount of funding has been included in the budget for experts. The Auditor General will be able to acquire services of these specialists only if the funding for professional services in our 2016 budget request is approved.