An audit of the effectiveness of the governance board of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust (SHFT) has found it to be effective despite paying inadequate attention to its audit committee.
With his report, Effectiveness of Board Governance at the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, Auditor-General, Grant Hehir has finalised a four-part series of governance audits that included Old Parliament House, the Special Broadcasting Service, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science as well as the SHFT.
“The governance and oversight arrangements adopted by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust board were effective, although board members have limited visibility of the work done by the entity’s Portfolio Audit Committee and place limited reliance on it for assurance purposes,” Mr Hehir said.
“Board members primarily rely on their own review and questioning of management reports and assertions rather than the advice and assurance provided by SHFT’s audit committee.”
He said his audit identified a number of opportunities for improvement.
These included the board having more active engagement with the Department of Finance and the Minister in relation to the skill requirements for future board appointments.
Mr Hehir’s audit also recommended enhancing the board charter by including requirements relating to Acting and Deputy Chair arrangements, and setting board expectations for reporting to it by management.
It concluded that SHFT’s record keeping practices could be improved.
The Auditor-General’s 60-page report can be accessed at this PS News link and the audit team was Grace Guilfoyle, Kelly Williamson, Shane Armstrong and Michelle Page.
