Ever wondered how the Queensland Audit Office chooses what to audit? We’ve just published our new 3-year forward work plan, which explains what we are auditing, when, and why.

Choosing what to audit, and when, is critical to delivering value from our work, and achieving our vision of better public services. 

We aim to identify the greatest risks to the public sector and choose audit topics that will improve outcomes for Queenslanders. 

Each year, we identify our topics through a structured and transparent process and publish them in our 3-year forward work plan. This provides visibility to parliament and the public about the topics we plan to cover and allows agencies to prepare for upcoming audits. 

Our new Forward work plan 2025–28 is available on our website at www.qao.qld.gov.au/audit-program.

We consulted widely across the public sector to inform the plan 

We develop our draft plan annually using a variety of information. We:

• scan the environment and relevant reports to understand risks and priority issues 
• review suggested topic ideas
• analyse the results of our audit programs. 

We issue the draft forward work plan to public sector entities and seek feedback. 

This year, we conducted additional, targeted consultation across public sector entities, to complement our usual feedback processes. We met with executive leadership teams, heads of internal audit, and other key stakeholders to help inform our view of risks across the public sector. We also met with leaders of government owned corporations, as the recent expansion of our performance audit mandate means they are now in scope for many of our audits. This process led to greater levels of feedback on the draft plan circulated for comment. 

We will continue this engagement approach for future updates to our plan. 

Our 7 focus areas for 2025–28

We re-shaped our focus areas for the next 3 years to reflect our changing context, and to ensure we adapt to shifts in policy priorities that come with a new government. Our 7 new focus areas are outlined in the image below. 

Queensland’s population is growing and ageing, increasing demand for services and placing pressure on infrastructure and transport needs. State and local governments need to consider how communities are planned for the future, including sufficient housing, jobs and liveability. 

Our natural environment and resources contribute to our economy, and to the beauty of Queensland. We must use and enjoy them carefully, for the benefit of current and future generations. 

In the digital world, public sector entities need to manage risks to maximise the benefits. Artificial intelligence is here, and we must know how to use it safely. Technology-enabled services can deliver improved outcomes but can be vulnerable to cyber attack. 

Underpinning all of the above is an effective and efficient public service.   

The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games cuts across each of these focus areas. The scale of investment and potential opportunity from this mega-event warrants its own focus area, and we will conduct a rolling series of audits across this and future work plans.

	1. Services Delivering essential services for Queenslanders
	2. Communities Long-term planning and economic outcomes for thriving communities
	3. Infrastructure and transport Delivering and maintaining fit-for-purpose and cost-effective infrastructure and transport
	4. Environment and resources Managing our natural resources to support current and future generations
	5. Digital Safely leveraging data and technology
	6. Public service Ensuring the accountability, transparency, and sustainability of government
	7. Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Effectively and efficiently preparing for the Games and securing lasting benefits for Queensland

We plan to table audits across all focus areas in 2025‒26 

Our plan aims to distribute audit effort across all government sectors and parliamentary committees to ensure fairness and prevent disproportionate scrutiny. This approach enables us to identify and report on systemic issues and trends.

Below is a snapshot of our planned audits and reports by focus area for 2025‒26.

Visit our audit program webpage to see the topics for all 3 years, including a description of each, who we might audit, and audit status. 

Services	Communities
Preventing prisoners from reoffending Funding mental health services Follow-on audit: Delivering social housing services Health 2025 Education 2025	Attracting and retaining teachers in regional Queensland  Supporting industry development   Energy 2025
Infrastructure and transport	Environment and resources
Managing variations to contracts in transport infrastructure projects  Major projects 2025	Reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill
Digital	Public service
Managing the ethical risks of artificial intelligence  Managing third-party cyber security risks  Information systems 2025	Improving the sustainability of local governments  Local government 2025 State entities 2025 Managing Queensland’s debt and investments 2025 2025 Status of Auditor-General’s recommendations
Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Procurement and governance series

What happens next? 

Throughout the year, we update the status of our audits and publish our tabled reports to parliament on our website.

We revise our 3-year forward work plan annually, which includes revisiting topics listed for future years and considering their continued relevance and priority. We also identify new topics for the additional year added to the plan. 

More information 

You can read our Forward work plan 2025–28 on our website, along with our planned audits for the next 3 years and an acquittal of our prior published plan: www.qao.qld.gov.au/audit-program.

For more information about our annual planning process, check out our fact sheet Our forward work plan and blog How do we select what to audit each year?.

Also see our fact sheet on How we prepare our reports to parliament.

We value direct input into our work. All Queenslanders are welcome to suggest an audit topic or contribute to an audit currently in progress: Contribute to audits in Queensland.