The Auditor General reviews the implementation status of recommendations made through her audit and investigation reports. The results of the review are reported to City Council through the Audit Committee.
The Auditor General’s follow-up work was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, we deferred our follow-up work that was in-progress to enable City divisions and its agencies and corporations to focus on the delivery of essential services. However, the City divisions and its agencies and corporations, where possible, did continue to work on the implementation of recommendations to realize savings and operational efficiencies.
During this time our Office implemented a new audit management technology solution. As an extension of the new system, we integrated continuous tracking of the implementation status of the recommendations included in the audit and investigation reports. This solution will provide a more efficient tracking of the outstanding recommendations to management and reporting to the Audit Committee on management actions to implement these recommendations.
As of January 8, 2021, there were 748 outstanding recommendations issued between September 2005 and February 2020. Management reported that 233 (31 per cent) recommendations were fully implemented and three recommendations were no longer applicable. The Auditor General has not verified the management reported status; however, this work is now underway. The results of our review will be submitted to the May 31, 2021 Audit Committee meeting.
The purpose of this report is to update the Audit Committee and Council on management actions and plans to implement the outstanding audit and investigation recommendations.