June 2009, ISBN 978-0-478-32628-4.
Local government
January 2009, letter to Mr Tony Marryatt, Chief Executive of Christchurch City Council.
September 2007: Letter advising of the outcome of our inquiry into the funding arrangements of the Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council for a new multi-purpose stadium proposed by the trustees of the Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust...
September 2007: Letter advising of the outcome of our inquiry into decisions made by the Queenstown Lakes District Council and the council-controlled organisation that it established to provide regulatory and resource management services for the district...
June 2007: Preparing LTCCPs is a relatively new and complex process, so there is room for improvement. This report is intended to assist the next round of LTCCPs...
June 2007, ISBN 0-478-18186-8.
April 2007: All territorial authorities must adopt a waste management plan. In this audit, we checked whether all had done so, and whether six were implementing them. Some of the plans were out of date or did not contain all the information we expected...
November 2006: Overall, councils’ rates postponement policies are well designed, and councils are administering them in the interests of their communities. However, we have identified some areas where councils could improve their rates postponement policies and procedures...
June 2006, ISBN 0-478-18159-0.
June 2006: The Local Government Act 2002 created a new legal requirement for each local authority to adopt a code of conduct for its elected members. We examined councils' experiences in developing and using their codes...
May 2006: In May 2000, a once-only payment of $120 million was made to help the West Coast region’s economy adjust to the Government’s policies to end the logging of indigenous forest. Of this funding package, $92 million was placed with the West Coast Development Trust, and the remaining $28 million was divided equally between the 4 West Coast local authorities. This report looks at how these 5 entities have managed the use of the funding package...
April 2006: This report provides museum staff with an independent assessment of collection management policies and practices against recognised principles of sound collection management, illustrates good practice, and suggests ways for museums and art galleries to work more effectively as individual institutions and collectively as a sector...
July 2005, ISBN 0-478-18139-6.
June 2005: This report is a discussion paper, written to highlight what we see as difficulties with the current Act, and to suggest some options for how the Act might be improved...
May 2005: This report looks at how the Resource Management Act 1991 framework has been implemented by the Horizons Regional Council and the Otago Regional Council for the management of freshwater in their regions...
April 2005: Presentation to the 4th Annual LexisNexis Local Government Legal Forum.
April 2005, presentation to the 4th Annual LexisNexis Local Government Legal Forum.
June 2004, ISBN 0-478-18120-5.
May 2004: Working together can be a practical and cost-effective way for local authorities to share experience and resources, tackle common tasks, or take advantage of economies of scale. Working together can bring significant benefits that may not always be in the form of cost savings...
November 2003, letter to the Chief Executive, Auckland Regional Council.
September 2003, ISBN 0-477-18107-8.
August 2003: The objective of this review was to assess the robustness and quality of the processes undertaken by Westland District Council, and Westland’s Working in considering and making decisions on applications for business loans...
August 2003, letter to the Chairperson of Auckland Regional Council.
September 2002.
August 2002: We undertook this study prompted by concerns about potential liabilities and risks associated with local authorities’ endorsement of, and (often) tangible support for, a wide range of economic development initiatives...
July 2002: In this report, the key aspect that we examined was how elected members and their chief executive manage their relationship in the grey area between governance and administration. Difficulties in managing that part of the relationship appear to be a common cause of problems between councils and their chief executive. We suggest ways in which this situation might be improved...
May 2002: This report records the perspective of David Macdonald on the changes in local government administration during his term as Auditor-General, and offers his views on future challenges...
April 2002: This report presents the results of an inquiry we undertook concerning the Taupo District Council’s funding of two entities – The Interim Establishment Board and the Lake Taupo Development Trust. These entities were created in connection with a proposal to establish a university and technology park in Taupo...
July 2001: This report contains our findings regarding a complaint made by the Concerned Citizens of the Coromandel Peninsula about certain actions of the Thames Coromandel District Council. Although the complaint raised over 50 issues, our report addresses only those issues that we considered to be most significant...
June 2001.