Audit
Committee
ITSA’s
Audit Committee advises the Chief Executive and the National
Management Board on a range of audit and financial practice matters.
In addition to considering the results of the various internal and
external audits and, importantly, the action subsequently taken to
respond to and implement auditors’ recommendations, the committee
monitors the application of, and compliance with, systems and
frameworks for ensuring high levels of internal control, financial
reporting, risk management and fraud control.
The
Audit Committee has three members: an independent (external) Chairman
and two ITSA senior executives.
The
Audit Committee membership for the relevant periods of the 2010–11
financial year were as follows:
- Mr Peter Kennedy PSM (Independent Chairman) – July to September 2010
- Mr Peter McQuoid (Independent Chairman) – September 2010 – June 2011
- Adam Toma (National Manager, Trustee Services and Audit Committee Member) –
July 2010 – June 2011 - Pat Tragauer (Business Manager, Information and Registries and Audit Committee Member) – July 2010 – June 2011
-
Andrew
Robinson (National Manager, Information and Registries and Audit
Committee Member) – January to June 2011.
Values,
conduct and ethical standards
ITSA’s
strategic and operational plans and Enterprise Agreement play a key
role in reinforcing the requirement for ITSA employees to uphold the
Australian Public Service Values and comply with the Code of Conduct.
Full details of initiatives conducted during 2010–11 are contained
in the section Management of ITSA’s
people (page 68).
APS Values, Code of Conduct and Ethical Behaviour
ITSA’
APS Values, Code of Conduct and Ethical Behaviour
APS Values, Code of Conduct and Ethical Behaviour
ITSA’s Operational Plans and
Enterprise Agreement play a key role in reinforcing the
requirement for ITSA employees to
uphold the Australian Public Service (APS) Values and
comply with the Code of Conduct. The
Values and the Code also are incorporated into
ITSA’s performance feedback scheme
and as part of the generic capability framework
which is used as the basis for
selecting employees.
Information on the Values and Code of
Conduct is contained in induction material given
to each new employee and is posted on
ITSA’s intranet. Formal procedures are in place
for investigating and determining
breaches of the Code of Conduct and for handling
reports from whistleblowers.
During July 2010 the Australian Public
Service Commission (APSC) conducted training
sessions in all ITSA sites on the
Values and Code of Conduct. In addition, new managers
attended a Manager Toolkit workshop at
the end of May 2011 which highlighted the role
of managers in educating employees
about the Values and Code of Conduct
Information on the Values and Code of Conduct is contained in induction material given
to each new employee and is posted on
ITSA’s intranet. Formal procedures are in place
for investigating and determining
breaches of the Code of Conduct and for handling
reports from whistleblower
During 2010–11, operational business lines have continued to improve the consistency
During 2010–11, operational business lines have continued to improve the consistency
of performance expectations through
implementation of more comprehensive and
holistic performance measures. In
addition to regular team meetings, one-on-one
feedback discussions take place with
each manager providing role clarity and greater
support for employees
Management of ITSA’s people
Management of ITSA’s people
In 2010–11, the key focus for ITSA’s
people management involved working at the
team level to improve employee
engagement and participation with a view to increased
productivity. This work was informed by
the regular employee opinion survey which
was used to evaluate progress and
determine improvement priorities for each team.
Leadership
During 2010–11, the continued focus
on leadership at the team level, along with
greater standardisation of performance
expectations, has resulted in a strong focus
on accountability for managers in terms
of business outcomes and people issues.
The employee opinion survey was
conducted in November 2010 with the rollout in
February 2011 of feedback to all
managers on their leadership behaviours. This enabled
the identification of individualised
leadership development and improvement targets.
Managers were also required to oversee
the completion of team action plans aimed at
improving employee motivation and
morale
AUDIT AND FINANCIAL PRACTICES COMMITTEE
The FMA Act requires chief executives
to establish an audit committee to assist them in the
financial governance of their agency.
ITSA’s Audit and Financial Practices Committee advises
the Chief Executive on a range of audit
and financial practice matters. These include
consideration of the results of the
various internal and external audits that were carried out
on ITSA’s activities and,
importantly, the action subsequently taken to implement the auditors’
recommendations; and monitoring ITSA’s
adoption of, and compliance with, appropriate
frameworks for internal controls, risk
management, fraud control and financial reporting
1.6 AUDIT COMMITTEE
Policy
The Audit Committee is responsible for
assisting the Chief Executive with responsibilities of corporate
governance, particularly maintaining adequate internal controls over
the revenue, expenditure and assets of the Department.
The Audit Committee has no executive
powers. It undertakes a review and advisory role with the aim of
ensuring financial management and control remains effective.
Rationale for Policy
Section 31 of the Financial Management
Act 1996 requires the Chief Executive to be responsible for
maintaining adequate internal controls including the safeguarding of
the assets of the department, compliance with applicable legislation
and the proper reporting of the financial results of the department.
Compliance with Legislation, Regulations and Ethics
- regulations and the results of management’s investigations and follow-up of any non compliance or fraudulent acts;
Compliance with the Department’s Code of Conduct
- review the Departments’ approach to business ethics and corporate conduct, written code of conduct and the programs in place for communicating the code of conduct to departmental personnel and for monitoring compliance;
Reporting Responsibilities
- circulation of a brief report on outcomes to the Chief Executive following each Audit Committee meeting;
- at any time, the Chief Internal Auditor or the Committee should bring to the attention of the Chief Executive any matter of concern;
- review any other reports from the Departments’ that relate to the Committee’s responsibilities;
ther Responsibilities
- investigate, review and advise on any ad hoc issues referred to the Committee by the Chief Executive;
- monitor actions to address audit findings and recommendations until scheduled completion and advise the Chief Executive of any significant slippage in implementation;
- provide a report to the portfolio Minister annually on operations of the Audit Committee, but can report at other times when considered necessary;
- review this Charter annually and provide any proposed amendments for approval by the Chief Executive;
- review the Audit Committee’s performance and compliance with its terms of reference, in response the Chief Executive, or at its own initiative to a request
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT 1997 - SECT 46
Audit committee(1) A Chief Executive must establish and maintain an audit committee with functions that include:
(a) helping the Agency to comply with obligations under this Act, the regulations and Finance Minister's Orders; and
(b) providing a forum for communication between the Chief Executive, the senior managers of the Agency, the internal auditors of the Agency and the Auditor-General.
(2) The committee must be constituted in accordance with the regulations (if any).
Division 2—Performance audits
(1)
The Auditor General may at any time conduct a performance audit
of an Agency.
(2)
As soon as practicable after completing the report on the audit, the
Auditor General must:
(a)
cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of the
Parliament; and
(b)
give a copy of the report to the responsible Minister; and
(c)
give a copy of the report to the Chief Executive of the Agency; and
(d)
to the extent that the report relates to the operations of a
Commonwealth partner—give a copy of the report to a director or
senior manager of the Commonwealth partner.
(2A)
The Auditor General may give a copy of, or an extract from, the
report to any person (including a Minister) who, or any body that, in
the Auditor General’s opinion, has a special interest in the
report or the content of the extract.
(3)
For the purposes of this section, an Agency is taken not to include
any persons who are employed or engaged under the Members
of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 and
who are allocated to the Agency by regulations for the purposes of
the definition of Agency in
section 5 of the Financial
Management and Accountability Act 1997.
- performance audit" , in relation to a person or body, means a review or examination of any aspect of the operations of the person or body.
