Elected members are responsible for setting the strategic direction of their council. This includes all decisions that impact how a local government operates, and bearing the outcomes of those decisions.

Auditing the right topics, at the right time, is the key to achieving better public services for Queenslanders.

In this blog, we summarise Queensland Treasury’s major changes in its financial reporting requirements (FRRs) for this year.

In October 2023, Queensland Treasury (QT) released its latest audit committee guidelines for departments and statutory bodies.

What is risk appetite?

Risk appetite is used by organisations to drive decision-making, understand the extent of controls needed to manage risks, and assess how to take advantage of opportunities.

As we all know, buildings are expensive to construct and maintain, but they are critical for the delivery of public services. If entities do not maintain their buildings well:

A new reporting (and auditing) requirement has been introduced into the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act), affecting public companies from the 30 June 2024 financial year end.

Why adopt a systems approach?

Providing services to the community relies on governments entities taking care of the physical assets they operate.

The Queensland Audit Office’s forward work plan is readily available on our website, providing transparency around our audit priorities and the reports we intend to table in parliament over the next 3 years.

The use of information technology (IT) services provided by other organisations (third parties) is becoming more widespread throughout state and local government entities.