How we are accountable

We are accountable to the Victorian Parliament and to all Victorians for how efficiently and effectively we perform our auditing services and how economically we use public resources.

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

We are accountable to the Victorian Parliament through the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC). We must consult PAEC when we develop our annual plan and our annual budget. Our annual plan outlines our proposed financial and performance audit work for the coming year.

We must also consult PAEC when we develop the objectives and scope for particular performance audits, including:

collaborative audits
audits that were not listed in our annual plan
when there has been a material change to the objectives or issues of an audit listed in our annual plan
‘follow-the-dollar’ performance audits.

We also provide PAEC with reports on our assurance reviews on a quarterly basis.

Audit and Risk Committee

We established an Audit and Risk Committee to meet our obligations under the Financial Management Act 1994. The committee's role is to provide independent advice to the Auditor-General to help them manage their responsibilities as prescribed in the Financial Management Act 1994, the Audit Act 1994 and other relevant requirements.

External audits

We are regularly audited by independent auditors that PAEC recommends. We are subject to yearly audits of our financial and performance statements.

Independent performance audits

We are also subject to a performance audit every four years, which examines and reports on the quality of our financial reporting and resource management.

The most recent performance audit report of VAGO was tabled on 30 July 2024.

Download a PDF copy of the report

View our independent performance audit archive

Internal audits

Internal audit assesses the quality and performance of specific functions in our office. Before the end of each financial year, our internal auditors with our Audit and Risk Committee develop the internal audit plan for the coming year. This plan lists proposed audits and when they will be carried out. We report on the results of these audits in our annual report each year.

Complaints

VAGO’s staff interact with the public sector and community. This contact can result in dissatisfaction and complaints about our staff, products or services. You can provide feedback or make a complaint via our complaints page.

Fraud and corruption control

VAGO does not tolerate fraud or corruption by our staff or by contractors and external service providers performing work for or on behalf of us. We take all allegations of suspected fraud or corruption very seriously and respond fully. You can make a complaint about suspected fraud or corruption by VAGO staff, contractors or service providers via our complaints page.

Click here to view our Fraud and Corruption Control Policy

Victorian Inspectorate

The Victorian Inspectorate is a key oversight body in Victoria’s integrity system. It has the power to scrutinise our activities, receive and investigate complaints made about us and examine how we use our coercive powers.

Surveys, reviews and benchmarking

We engage an independent research company to survey:

Members of Parliament annually on how useful they find our reports and how satisfied they are with our work
audited agencies, including agencies that are directly involved in our audits, and their audit committee chairs.

We conduct process reviews of our individual audits and send independent external reviewers a sample of our reports to assess their quality and readability. We also benchmark our performance against other audit offices in Australia.

Continuous improvement

We use the information from our surveys, reviews and internal audits to:

address any issues that arise from individual audits
identify trends and common themes
develop improvement projects and strategies
monitor the effectiveness of current improvement projects.

Our staff

Every year VAGO staff participate in the People Matter Survey, which is conducted by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. People Matter is an independent opinion survey where employees from organisations across the public sector can have their say on different aspects of their job and their wellbeing within the workplace.

View our 2024 People Matter survey results (PDF)

View our People Matter Survey archive

Compliance

As required by the Standing Directions 2018 under the Financial Management Act 1994, we externally publish our Gifts, Benefits and Hospitality Policy and Register online. This partially fulfils our requirements under the audit standards. Click the links below to view our policy and register.

The Auditor-General's expenses are reported to our Audit and Risk Committee. We externally publish these expenses online for improved scrutiny and transparency.

View the Auditor-General's expenses for the period 1 July 2024 to 30 Sept 2024 and YTD (PDF)