Each edition of Audit Tips highlights good practices and provides practical advice for performance auditors on a selected theme.
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When reviewing documents, conducting interviews, or visiting sites during the planning phase of an audit of efficiency, performance auditors may come across information or situations that suggest that the achievement of efficiency is at risk in a given program or organization. In such cases, auditors should document their observations and obtain additional information as required.
Conducting interviews is a key evidence-gathering technique for performance auditors. While auditors can prepare for an interview by reading piles of documents and drafting a structured questionnaire, to be effective they also need to go to the interview with the right attitude.
Today's technologies are changing how we communicate and access new information at breakneck speed. Smart phones, tablets and computers are significantly altering how we read and learn. Technology has also changed how reports are—or should be—written. Gone are the days of long, dry, dense reports. To keep people's attention—and keep people reading—we need to think differently about how we write and present information.
Environmental pressures and degradation continue to be of concern. In Canada there are important environmental challenges. From declining biodiversity to contaminated drinking water, from the impacts of climate change to urban smog, from threatened aquifers to invasive species, communities and ecosystems from coast to coast in Canada are experiencing problems that need to be addressed. The good news is that performance audits constitute a great opportunity to bring about change, to have an impact, and to add value.
Gender inequalities are still deep-rooted in all countries and societies. They are the most pervasive, systemic, and structural of all inequalities—and they affect us all. Audits can play a key role by determining whether governments are meeting their commitments, achieving planned results, and putting in place policies and programs that work.
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