The Auditor General has published a report on her audits of application controls in four entities with business applications during 2019-20.
The audit Application Controls Audits 2021 examined the applications with the following agencies:
* Teacher Registration System — Teacher Registration Board of Western Australia;
* Deliveries and Billing System — Forest Products Commission; Housing;
* Management System (Habitat) — Department of Communities and Student; and
* Management System — Department of Training and Workforce Development.
The Auditor General, Caroline Spencer said the report contains important findings and recommendations addressing common weaknesses that could potentially compromise sensitive and operational information held by the entities.
“The audit examined whether entities exercise effective controls to manage their applications and information,” Ms Spencer said.
“We identified control weaknesses across all four applications and reported 75 findings to the entities. Nine findings were rated as significant, 57 moderate and nine minor.”
She said most related to poor information security, policies and procedures.
“We also found weaknesses in controls aimed to ensure the applications function efficiently, effectively and remain available. Most of the issues we found are relatively simple and inexpensive to fix,” Ms Spencer said.
“Addressing these weaknesses is a key priority for these entities and it is pleasing to see that they have addressed them or are in the process of actively doing so.”
The Auditor General said applications’ controls needed to be considered in conjunction with existing organisational processes and IT controls.
“A holistic approach towards governance, risk management and security is critical for secure and effective operations,” Ms Spencer said.
The Auditor General’s 46-page report can be accessed at this PS News link and the audit team was Jordan Langford-Smith, Kamran Aslam, Paul Tilbrook and Fareed Bakhsh.
