Requirements - Planning the Audit
AG-4 (revised): The audit of service performance reports.
- In accordance with the Auditor-General’s Statements, the Appointed Auditor must be conversant with the statute(s) governing the entity, in particular with the laws and regulations that specify the form, content, preparation, publication, and audit of the non-financial performance report, and assess whether they have been met. (Ref: Para. A1)
- The Appointed Auditor must gain an understanding of the nature and purpose of the entity, in accordance with the Auditor-General’s Statements. This is necessary, among other things, to assist the Appointed Auditor to assess the entity’s approach to performance management, provide a basis for assessing the quality of its non-financial performance report, and plan the audit approach. (Ref: Para. A2)
- The Appointed Auditor must assess the management control environment and obtain an understanding of how its non-financial performance information fits within it. This involves gaining an appreciation of the policies, processes, systems, and structures employed by the entity for planning, managing, reporting, and evaluating its overall performance. (Ref: Para. A3)
- When planning the audit of the service performance report, the Appointed Auditor must consider the current state of the entity and its environment. The Appointed Auditor must consider any changes affecting the entity’s management control environment since their most recent assessment and consider the implications of those changes for planning the audit approach and the nature and extent of audit procedures.
- Specifically, the Appointed Auditor must consider:
- How the entity views the relationships between the various elements of performance (i.e. inputs, outputs, and outcomes, including impacts and other intermediate outcomes); and
- The entity’s performance priorities.
- The Appointed Auditor must also consider the entity’s audit history, including recent audit reports and reports to management in relation to matters affecting the entity’s non-financial performance report.
- The Appointed Auditor must consider the implications of the matters referred to in paragraphs 19 to 24 above for planning the audit approach and the nature and extent of audit procedures.
