PACP Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Public Accounts |
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Comité permanent des comptes publics |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
Improvements in Internal Audit Need to Be Maintained
Ottawa, February 08, 2012 -
OTTAWA – The federal government has made considerable improvements to internal audit since revising its Policy on Internal Audit in 2006, and the government needs to maintain its momentum, according to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ report tabled today in the House of Commons.
In an audit included in its 2011 Status Report, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) examined progress made by the government in acting on the observations and recommendations of the OAG’s 2004 report on internal audit. Overall, the OAG concluded that the government had made satisfactory progress. In fact, the Interim Auditor General, John Wiersema, told the Committee that the audit was a success story.
The OAG found that departments had established independent audit committees, chief audit executives reported directly to deputy ministers, departments had developed risk-based plans for their internal audit activities, and the Office of the Comptroller General had provided strategic direction and guidance to departments on internal audit.
As nine of the twelve departments examined had not yet completed an external quality assessment of their internal audit activity, the Committee recommends that these departments provide the results of their assessments to the Committee upon completion.
The Committee recognizes the work done by the Office of the Comptroller General to provide leadership and direction to departments on internal audit, and the improvements that departments have made in their internal audit activities. These improvements should contribute to stronger governance as well as management oversight of financial and administrative practices within the federal government.
The Committee also notes the comments of the Interim Auditor General, “I believe that one of the challenges will be maintaining the momentum that has been established in internal audit, that we do not repeat decisions of the past to look for easy opportunities for short-term savings but weaken what I consider to be an important management tool.”
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