Report to/Rapport au :

 

Audit Sub-Committee

Sous-comité de la vérification

 

and / et

 

Finance and Economic Development Committee

Comité des finances et du développement économique

 

and Council / et au Conseil

 

May 17, 2012

17 mai 2012

 

Submitted by/Soumis par :  Kent Kirkpatrick, City Manager/Directeur municipal

 

Contact Person / Personne ressource:  Steve Box, Director, Corporate Programs and Business Services/ Directeur, Programmes municipaux et Services opérationnels
Office of the City Manager/Bureau du directeur municipal  

(613) 580-2424 x24200, Steve.Box@ottawa.ca

 

CITY WIDE / À L’ÉCHELLE DE LA VILLE

Ref N°: ACS2012-CMR-OCM-0002

 

SUBJECT:

 

Quality assurance review – office of the auditor general

 

OBJET :

 

EXamen d’assurance de la qualité – BUREAU DU Vérificateur GéNéRAL

 

 

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

That the Audit Sub-Committee recommend that the Finance and Economic Development Committee recommend Council receive the attached Office of the Auditor General Quality Assurance Review report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

 

 

Recommandation du rapport

Que le Sous-comité de la vérification recommande que le Comité des finances et du développement économique recommande à son tour au Conseil de prendre connaissance du rapport ci-joint de l’examen d’assurance de la qualité du Bureau du vérificateur général, préparé par la firme PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

 

 

 

Background

On 24 November 2010, as part of the 2010-2014 Council Governance Review report, Council established the Audit Sub-Committee and directed it to undertake an external quality assurance review (QAR) of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG).

 

Further to “Quality Assessment Review – Office of the Auditor General” report (Ref: No: ACS2011-CMR-OCM-0002) and direction received by the City Manager at Audit Sub-Committee on 26 May 2011, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) was retained to undertake an external quality assurance review of the OAG.

 

PwC's Statement of Work specified that they would deliver findings and recommendations to the Audit Sub-Committee with regard to the following three objectives:

 

1.  Assess the OAG against the duties and other requirements established within the framework (statute, mandate and by-law) which originally created the position of Auditor General in 2004;

 

2.  Identify and map those additional activities or other changes, if any, that would be required to support the OAG’s conformance with Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Auditing Standards and Code of Ethics; and

 

3.  Identify opportunities, offer recommendations for improvement and provide counsel to the Auditor General and his staff for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the OAG.

 

 

DISCUSSION

An external quality assurance review of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has been conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) further to Committee and Council direction.

 

PwC's findings and recommendations following completion of the review are summarized in Document 1 to this report.  A presentation summarizing these findings will be provided to Audit Sub-Committee by PwC. In addition, the OAG have prepared a separate presentation and report (Ref No: ACS2012-OAG-BVG-0001) outlining their response to the findings raised in the PwC report.

 

 

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no rural implications associated with this report.

 

 

CONSULTATION

As this is considered an internal administrative matter, no public consultation was undertaken.

 

 

Comments by the Ward Councillor(s)

This is a city-wide issue.

 

 

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no legal impediments to receiving this report.
 

 

RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

There are no risk management impediments to implementing the recommendations arising from this report.

 

 

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no financial implications associated with approval of the report recommendation.

 

 

ACCESSIBILITY IMPACTS

There are no accessibility impacts associated with this report.

 

 

Environmental Implications

There are no environmental implications associated with this report.

 

 

Technology Implications

There are no technology implications associated with this report.

 

 

TERm of council priorities

The work completed is directly linked to Council’s priority with regard to governance, planning and decision-making and the strategic objective of applying management controls to achieve Council’s priorities. 

 

Priority: Governance, Planning and Decision-making – Achieve measurable improvement in residents’ level of trust in how the City is governed and managed, apply a sustainability lens to decision-making, and create a governance model that compares well to best-in-class cities around the world.

 

Strategic Objective:  Apply management controls to achieve Council’s priorities –  Integrate planning and performance processes at the City to strengthen decision-making, improve transparency and accountability, align operations with Council’s priorities, enhance governance, and improve local decision-making while allowing Council and City management to focus on citywide challenges.

 

 

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Document 1 -      PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP - Office of the Auditor General Quality Assurance Review Report – English / French (issued separately to all members of Council and held on file with the City Clerk)

 

 

DISPOSITION

Upon confirmation of receipt of this report by the Audit Sub-Committee, the Finance and Economic Development Committee and Council, the Office of the Auditor General will take action as directed.