Finance
May 12, 2016

Accountability and Informed Decisions

Provincial Government Responds to Auditor General's Update Report

The Auditor General today released his 2015 Update Report to provide the status of recommendations he made for implementation. The report includes the status of recommendations for 2012 related to departments and Crown agencies.

"The very important work done by the Office of the Auditor General provides government the opportunity to ensure programs and services are being delivered in the most effective and efficient way possible. I recently met with the Auditor General and have ensured him that this government takes his recommendations seriously, and work will continue in all departments to resolve his recommendations. I would like to thank the staff in the Office of the Auditor General for their hard work and acknowledge that these efforts will be essential as we deal with the current fiscal situation facing the province."
- The Honourable Cathy Bennett, Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board

The Auditor General has changed the implementation targets from previous years. The goal now is to have full implementation of all recommendations within three years. Starting this year, the Auditor General will only monitor and report upon recommendations from each annual report once with monitoring commencing three years after the report date. The Provincial Government intends to develop a template to ensure all departments provide information on the status and work towards implementing the Auditor General's recommendations.

The report by the Auditor General states that his goal of full implementation or resolution has not been met. Of the 105 recommendations for 2012, 85 of these, or 81 per cent, have been fully implemented or otherwise resolved. Of the remaining 20 recommendations, 14 of these, or 13 per cent, were partially implemented and six, or six per cent, had no action taken.

More information can be found in the backgrounder below.

QUICK FACTS

• The Auditor General today released his 2015 Update Report to provide the status of recommendations he made for implementation.
• The Auditor General has changed the implementation targets from previous years. The goal now is to have full implementation of all recommendations within three years.
• The report by the Auditor General states that his goal of full implementation or resolution has not been met.
• Of the 105 recommendations for 2012, 85 of these, or 81 per cent, have been fully implemented or otherwise resolved.
• Of the remaining 20 recommendations, 14 of these, or 13 per cent, were partially implemented and six, or six per cent, had no action taken.

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Media contact:

Jennifer Tulk Director of Communications Department of Finance 709-729-6830, 728-4104 jennifertulk@gov.nl.ca

BACKGROUNDER
Summary of Report Items by Department

2016 05 12                              3:55 p.m.