Fraud Prevention and Control: The Role of the Commonwealth Auditor-General (From Fraud Prevention and Control, P 1-7, 2000, Australian Institute of Criminology -- See NCJ-186569)

• NCJ Number: 186581
• Author(s): Ann Thurley
• Date Published: January 2001
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Paper presented at the Fraud Prevention and Control Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology on August 24-25, 2000.

Annotation

After reviewing the meaning of corporate governance in Australia, this paper discusses the role of Australia's Auditor-General in ensuring that agencies adhere to the principles of sound corporate governance in controlling and preventing fraud, followed by a presentation of the findings of audits completed thus far.

Abstract

In a speech (May 2000) Australia's Auditor-General stated that "corporate governance" is "largely about organizational and management performance... about how an organization is managed, its corporate and other structures, its culture, its policies, and the ways in which it deals with its various stakeholders. It is concerned with structures and processes for decision making and with controls and behavior that support effective accountability for performance results." Key components of corporate governance in both the public and private sectors are business planning, risk management, and performance monitoring and assessment. Good corporate governance is based on a clear code of ethical behavior and integrity that is binding on management and staff and communicated to stakeholders. The Auditor-General is responsible for financial and performance audits of all Australian agencies, authorities, companies, and subsidiaries, except for performance audits of Government Business Enterprises and staff of members of Parliament. The Auditor-General reports to the Parliament on the outcomes of all audits, may provide extra reports to the Parliament and Ministers, and provides advice generally on the operations of the Commonwealth public sector. This paper explains the nature of financial statement audits, performance audits, and fraud control performance audits. This is followed by a report on the findings of a survey of fraud control arrangements in the Australian Public Service.