NSW’s Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford has released her report on the findings and recommendations from financial audits in 2019–20 relating to the internal controls and governance at 40 of the NSW public sector’s largest Agencies
In her report, Ms Crawford said the bushfire and flood emergencies as well as the COVID‑19 pandemic continue to have a significant impact on the people and public sector across the State, even though the scale of the Government’s response to the events had been “significant”.
The Auditor-General’s report focuses on the effectiveness of internal controls and governance processes, including relevant Agencies’ responses to the emergencies.
Ms Crawford said that in particular, her report focused on Financial and information technology controls; Business continuity and disaster recovery planning arrangements; Procurement, including emergency procurement; and Delegations that support timely and effective decision-making.
“Due to the ongoing impact of COVID‑19, Agencies have not yet returned to a business‑as‑usual environment,” Ms Crawford said.
“Agencies will need to assess their response to the recent emergencies and update their business continuity, disaster recovery and other business resilience frameworks to reflect the lessons learnt from these events,” she said.
She said her report noted that special procurement provisions had been put in place to allow Agencies to respond better to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Auditor-General recommended Agencies update their procurement policies to reflect the current requirements of the NSW Procurement Framework and the emergency procurement requirements.
Her 65-page report Internal controls and governance 2020 can be accessed at this PS News link.
