The Auditor General has released a report on key observations and findings from the most recent audits of Agencies in the Education cluster.
The Auditor-General Margaret Crawford said her report, Education 2020, analysed the results of audits of financial statements of entities within the Education cluster for the year ending 30 June 2020.
“Unqualified audit opinions were issued for all cluster Agencies’ 30 June 2020 financial statements audits,” Ms Crawford said.
“However, internal control deficiencies were identified across the cluster Agencies, including deficiencies in the management of purchasing cards and 15 internal control issues that were repeated from the previous year,” she said.
Ms Crawford said Agencies implemented three new accounting standards during the year.
“Our financial statement audits of the Department of Education and NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) identified issues with the leasing information provided by Property NSW (PNSW),” the Auditor-General said.
“Despite the outsourcing arrangement, both the Department and NESA remain ultimately responsible for the completeness and accuracy of this information, which would have benefited from a more thorough quality assurance, validation and review process before they placed reliance upon it,” she said.
Ms Crawford said 33 internal control issues were identified, including 15 findings repeated from previous years.
“Repeat findings relate to ongoing deficiencies in information technology controls and management policies, practices and procedures,” she said.
The Auditor-General made 10 recommendations aimed at improving quality assurance for new accounting standards, correcting internal control deficiencies and a better monitoring system for the use of purchasing cards at the Department of Education.
The Auditor-General’s 27-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
