We have consulted with the agencies listed in Appendix D, and we considered their views when reaching our review findings. As required by the Audit Act 1994, we gave a draft copy of this report to those agencies and asked for their submissions and comments. 

Responsibility for the accuracy, fairness and balance of those comments rests solely with the agency head.

We consulted with the audited agencies and considered their views when reaching our conclusions. The agencies’ responses are in Appendix A. 

When do agencies accept our recommendations?

We asked the audited agencies to tell us whether they accepted our recommendations both before we tabled their report and at the time we conducted our review. 

The Auditor‐General provides independent assurance to the Parliament of Victoria and the Victorian community on the performance of the state and local government public sectors.

Our performance audits assess whether agencies have effective programs and services and whether they are using their resources economically and efficiently. We also identify activities that work well and reflect better practice.

Figure C1 lists the adjustments we have made to our performance audit work program in response to the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic.

FIGURE C1: Audit adjustments in response to COVID–19

The Auditor-General undertakes financial audits for over 560 public sector entities each year. The Auditor-General uses VAGO staff to undertake around a third of these financial report audits. For the remaining audits, the Auditor-General contracts private sector firms (audit service providers) to assist. VAGO reviews this work and all audit opinions are issued on behalf of the Auditor-General. 

We largely use our own professionally qualified and trained staff to deliver performance audits. However, we also engage experts to advise or work with our performance audit teams on complex and technical issues and use contractors to supplement staff resources where required.