List of Recommendations

Recommendation 1

2.9

The Committee recommends that:

the Northern Land Council report back to the Committee on progress in responding to the two significant legislative breaches reported by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in Audit Report No. 24 (2017-18)

should the ANAO audit of the financial statements of the Council for the period ended 30 June 2018 result in any significant legislative breaches being reported, whether new or unresolved from 2016-17, the Council promptly report back to the Committee on progress in responding to such findings

Recommendation 2

2.13

The Committee recommends that should the Australian National Audit Office audit of the financial statements of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) for the period ended 30 June 2018 result in any significant or moderate audit findings, whether new or unresolved from 2016-17, the NDIA promptly report back to the Committee on progress in responding to such findings.

Recommendation 3

2.17

The Committee recommends that:

should the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) audits of the financial statements of the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Defence, the Director of National Parks and the Department of Home Affairs for the period ended 30 June 2018 result in any significant or moderate audit findings, whether new or unresolved from 2016-17, these entities promptly report back to the Committee on progress in responding to such findings

in reporting back to the Committee on progress in addressing any significant or moderate audit findings in the ANAO category of IT control environment, entities should also outline:

what assurance for IT controls is undertaken by the entity’s audit committee

what plans have been established to continuously monitor IT controls, to prevent reoccurrence of such issues in future years

Recommendation 4

2.23

The Committee recommends that the Department of Finance report back to the Committee on ways to further promote public transparency across budget and financial reporting documentation regarding alternative financing mechanisms.

Recommendation 5

2.24

The Committee recommends that the Australian National Audit Office consider:

undertaking an audit of one complete Commonwealth financial reporting cycle (for one or more Commonwealth entities), focused on clarity of terminology and a clear read of financial information (line of sight) across aggregated and disaggregated financial reporting documentation (budget papers, Portfolio Budget Statements, annual reports and financial statements)—including ease of tracking financial reporting information over time

reporting in greater detail on alternative financing mechanisms—such as equity investment, concessional loans and contingent liabilities—in its Key Audit Matter reporting for financial statement audits, to further promote public transparency in this area

Recommendation 6

2.25

The Committee recommends that the Parliamentary Budget Office consider undertaking further research into promoting public transparency and understanding of budget and financial reporting documentation, and ways to improve line of sight and tracking of aggregated and disaggregated financial information across such documentation, including over forward years.

Recommendation 7

2.28

The Committee recommends that the Australian National Audit Office consider reporting back to the Committee on how the rollout of digitised annual reports by the Department of Finance might assist in the development of performance targets or benchmarks to enable Commonwealth entities to assess their own financial sustainability against agreed parameters over time and against like entities.

Recommendation 8

3.14

The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office report back to the Committee on its progress in implementing the recommendations from the Auditor-General’s Report No. 48 (2017-18), complete with timeframes, planned deliverables and outcomes observed to date.

Recommendation 9

3.18

The Committee recommends that, in a future review of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth), the Department of Treasury investigate the possibility of including a positive obligation on the intermediary community to report to the Australian Taxation Office, clients who they suspect are in breach of their obligations to report or apply to the Foreign Investment Review Board for approval to purchase property.

Recommendation 10

3.24

The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office prioritise and improve processes around:

the collection and analysis of data around the geographic location of breaches

the creation of data matching rules in order to determine if there are foreign purchasers using beneficial ownership in order to avoid their obligations under the foreign investment in residential real estate regime as recommended by the Australian National Audit Office

the application of civil and criminal penalties applied under the same regime

And report back to the Committee on its progress on these matters by the end of October 2019.

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