The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is to launch its own academy to support the professional development of its staff members.
Announcing the ANAO Academy in its Corporate Plan 2022–23, the Office said it would increase its focus on internal training through a refreshed, integrated learning program.
“While competition within the recruitment environment requires us to cast our net wider for talent, our attention has turned further towards our capacity to ‘grow our own’ and support the professional development of our people,” the ANAO said.
“While auditing will always require deep knowledge across a range of disciplines, the plan considers the fundamental skills we require in our people and the opportunities that exist to develop the potential of talented individuals to deliver our work,” it said.
“As such, the ANAO will increase our focus on internal training through a refreshed, integrated learning program – the ANAO Academy.”
The Office said the Academy had been designed to uplift and refine both the technical and non-technical skills required of the ANAO’s people.
It said the program would deliver a complete learning and development curriculum – “tailored to our unique role within the Australian Government sector, the specialist capability required to deliver our audit disciplines, and the leadership potential we will need for the future.”
In its Workforce Plan 2022-25, released last week, the Office identified the jobs it considered critical to building the ANAO’s capability for the audit industry of the future, including Data analysts, Financial auditors, Performance analysts, Performance statements auditors, and IT auditors.
The ANAO said it faced three key challenges to recruiting, developing and retaining staff, naming the need to grow the size of the audit function in a tight labour market as the biggest challenge.
It said the need to develop a highly skilled, agile and adaptable workforce to meet both enduring and changing capability requirements, and a high rate of employee mobility in the market also presented challenges.
The ANAO’s Workforce Plan can be viewed at this PS News link.
