NSW Audit Office - Info - Summary of working conditions

9 pages

English

NSW Audit Office - Info - Summary of working conditions

Fiwyur - The Audit Office Of New South Wales

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9 pages

English

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A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒGuide to the AO - summary INTRODUCTION The New South Wales Auditor-General: operates under the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983 helps the New South Wales Parliament hold Government accountable for its use of public resources is independent of Government and reports directly to the Parliament. The Audit Office generates revenue in excess of $25 million per annum and has more than 400 clients ranging from large statutory authorities and departments to small subsidiary companies. Quality management and continuous improvement are an integral part of the Audit Office’s management philosophy. The Audit Office achieved its ISO 9001 certification in November 1996 and was the first public sector audit practice to receive such recognition. AUDIT OFFICE SERVICES The Audit Office’s principal services are: Financial Reports Audits – provide opinion on financial reports of Government Agencies and comment on agency compliance with law, regulation and policy. Performance Audits – examine effectiveness, efficiency and economy. Protected Disclosures - investigations of serious and substantial waste of public money under the Protected Disclosures Act 1994 Special Reviews/Investigations. Reports to Parliament. AUDIT OFFICE CLIENTS Our clients are: Parliament representing The People of New South Wales The Government The Audit Client, organisations which form the NSW public sector The Public of New South Wales ...

Informations

Publié par	Fiwyur
Nombre de lectures	24
Langue	English

Extrait

Guide to the AO  summary

INTRODUCTION The New South Wales AuditorGeneral: operates under thePublic Finance and Audit Act 1983helps the New South Wales Parliament hold Government accountable for its use of

public resources

is independent of Government and reports directly to the Parliament.

The Audit Office generates revenue in excess of $25 million per annum and has more than 400

clients ranging from large statutory authorities and departments to small subsidiary companies. Quality management and continuous improvement are an integral part of the Audit Office’s management philosophy. The Audit Office achieved its ISO 9001 certification in November 1996 and was the first public sector audit practice to receive such recognition.

AUDIT OFFICE SERVICES The Audit Office’s principal services are: Financial Reports Audits – provide opinion on financial reports of Government Agencies

and comment on agency compliance with law, regulation and policy.

Performance Audits – examine effectiveness, efficiency and economy. Protected Disclosures  investigations of serious and substantial waste of public money under theProtected Disclosures Act 1994

Special Reviews/Investigations.

Reports to Parliament.

AUDIT OFFICE CLIENTS

Our clients are: Parliament representing The People of New South Wales The Government The Audit Client, organisations which form the NSW public sector The Public of New South Wales.

Guide to the AO  summary

Commitment to Service In keeping with our vision of becoming a Centre of Excellence, we continually strive to provide our audit clients with improved professional services to meet their needs. We recognise and accept our responsibilities to the Parliament and people of New South Wales in providing them with accurate, timely and costeffective information on public sector financial matters. We also recognise our responsibilities to our audit clients by providing them

with excellent auditing and related services and advice.

Professional Conduct

We recognise the need to maintain high standards of personal behaviour and appearance, in our dealings with clients and other external stakeholders and with our peers. Professional Excellence

We seek to create a working environment in which individuals are encouraged to act with integrity, to develop to their maximum potential and are rewarded for their contribution.

FINANCIAL AUDIT The financial audit branch consists of audit teams arranged into nine industry groups that deal

with similar government clients. These teams: provide an independent opinion on the financial report prepared by each Government agency. The financial report and the independent audit report are generally required to be included in the agency’s annual report tabled in Parliament. In addition, audits are conducted on the Treasurer’s Public Accounts and the Total State Sector Accounts.

Audit reports are published with these statements

comment on agency compliance with certain laws, regulations and Government

directives, accountability issues, performance, waste and probity.

advise agency management on matters detected during the audit. Matters may include, opportunities to improve the methods and processes used by agency management to safeguard resources and to provide useful financial information.

We provide reports to the Minister responsible for the agency, to the agency and the Treasurer

and to the Parliament through the AuditorGeneral’s Report to Parliament.

Staff are allocated to audit teams on a permanent basis, but may frequently join

•

and report to the Business Team Leader.

Audit Leaders

•

Audit Leaders are supported by staff that include a a range of the following:

Audit Staff

transport or childcare.

Flexible work practices allow you and the Audit Office to operate more effectively. These may

AuditorGeneral

Senior Auditors

Auditors 1 – 4

between teams every 2 – 4 years.

Audit Leader

AuditorGeneral

Guide to the AO  summary

arrange predictable regular hours and days of work which coincide with the availability of

AuditorGeneral

Auditor 1  4

Business

periods of leave without pay during the year, or utilising family and community services leave

arrangements. They can allow you to take a career break to enhance your work skills or

CAREER STRUCTURE

Issuing audit opinions and reports

Business Team Leaders are responsible for managing a portfolio of audit clients,

Business Team Leaders

•

overseeing all stages of the audit including:

Approving the audit plan

Reviewing audit work performed

Liaising with client management

Audit Leaders are responsible for managing an audit team on a day to day basis

other teams for specified periods of time. Staff (including managers) are rotated

Deputy

Assistant

Team Leader

Senior Auditor

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Flexible Work Practices

involve parttime work, enhanced flexible working hours, job sharing, arranging preplanned

Guide to the AO  summary

Flexible Working Hours Flexible working hours apply to all staff except the Senior Executive Service. Flextime settlement period is a calendar month. Calculate your hours by multiplying working days and public holidays by 7.

Each employee records hours worked on an electronic flex sheet. At the end of the settlement period, the flex sheet is checked by the Manager and approved by the Business

Team Leader.

You may carry a credit of up to 70 hours into the next settlement period. Financial Audit

staff may carry a credit of 105 hours during the period 1 July to 31 December. Credit hours

are to be cleared by 31 December each year with a maximum carry over of 10 hours to the

new flex year.

The maximum debit carry over is 10 hours at all times. Where the debit exceeds 10 hours, the excess will be debited as leave without pay unless you choose to use recreation or extended leave to offset the excess.

The Flexible working bandwidth is 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. Time worked outside these hours

will not be recorded.

A maximum of 10 hours per day can be worked as flex time. Attendance within the

bandwidth but outside the hours of a standard day (i.e. 7 hours) is subject to availability of work.

You must work a minimum of 3.5 consecutive hours (excluding meal breaks) between 9am and 5pm. If you do not, you will need to use an appropriate amount of recreation leave, or (if recreation leave is exhausted), leave without pay. This will not apply in cases of

major transport delay or strike.

Meal breaks – there will be a minimum meal break of 30 minutes in every 5 hour period of continuous work. There is no maximum period for a meal break. You should consult with

your manager in the taking of meal breaks.

Guide to the AO  summary

Subject to Office convenience, you may take two days of flex leave (in multiples of a ½ day) during each settlement period. It is not obligatory to have a credit balance before

flex leave is taken, however prior approval from your supervisor is essential. When taking a halfday, a minimum of 3 ½ hours must be worked. When taking flex leave, no hours are credited to your flex sheet.

The two days can be taken consecutively, but cannot be combined with flex leave from another settlement period. The exceptions being – Financial Audit staff are able to take one period of up to 5 consecutive flex days between 1 January and 30 June and a period

of up to 10 consecutive flex days between 1 November and 31 December. All other staff

may take a period of up to 5 consecutive days in each half of the year but these cannot be combined.

A maximum of 24 flex days can be taken per flex year. During designated busy periods,

employees may take flex leave only with the approval of their manager and the next level of management. For Financial Audit the busy periods are 1 July to 31 October and for audits with 31 December year ends, 1 February to 30 April. Designated busy periods for all areas of

the Office are as determined by the appropriate Business Unit Head.

All other leave is recorded on your flex sheet as a standard day (7 hours). When a part day is

taken as leave, total credit for the day must equal at least 7 hours. The amount of leave

taken is to be calculated to the next quarter day.

LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS Sick Leave Staff are entitled to 15 days per calendar year, fully accumulative i.e. 15 days less the number

of days taken is accumulated at the completion of each calendar year.

A medical certificate is advisable to support any absence for sick leave and is essential for absences in excess of 3 days. A leave form should be submitted as soon as possible after

returning to work and shall include details of the nature of the illness. The medical certificate

(if supplied) should be attached to this form and forwarded to Employee Relations.

Guide to the AO  summary

In your first 3 months of service not more than 5 days’ leave will be granted unless a satisfactory medical certificate is produced. Staff must provide a medical certificate to be paid for sick leave taken following submission of

formal resignation. Note: Sick leave records are monitored very closely, and should excessive sick leave (5

absences without Medical Certificates in any 12 month period) be detected, follow up action

may result.

If you are unable to attend work on any day due to illness you must ensure that your supervisor or an appropriate senior officer is informed as soon as possible. Recreation Leave Recreation leave accrues at the rate of 20 working days per annum and may be taken as it accrues provided sufficient notice and subsequent approval is given. The maximum amount of

recreation leave that can be accrued is 40 days. Note: Unless insufficient leave is available, at least one period of two consecutive weeks

recreation leave must be taken each year. Extended Leave

The entitlement is 44 working days after 10 years of service followed by 11 working days for

each completed year thereafter. Extended leave can only be taken after the completion of 7

years service. In general, prorata extended leave is payable to staff who resign with more than 5 years but less than 10 years’ service only in cases of illness, incapacity, domestic or other pressing necessity. The Transferred Officers Extended Leave Act provides for recognition of previous service with

many other State and Commonwealth Departments, Authorities and Instrumentalities. Enquiries

should be directed to the Employee Relations Unit. Family and Community Services Leave (FACS)

Is available in the case of pressing necessity requiring a person’s absence at very short notice, such as illness in the family, death and funerals of immediate family members, floods, fire etc.

Guide to the AO  summary

FACS leave may also be granted for planned absences such as accompanying a relative to a medical appointment, parent/teacher meetings, education week activities, etc. Note: This leave will be considered only for absences where arrangements outside of working

hours could not be made. The entitlement is the greater of (a) and (b) below: (a) During the first 12 months of service – 2 ½ days

After completion of 12 months’ service – 5 days in any period of 2 years (b) After 2 years’ service, 1 day for each completed year of service, less total amount of FACS leave previously taken. The grant of FACS leave is restricted to the time necessary to cover the immediate emergency

i.e. normally a maximum of 1 day. Personal/Carer’s leave

This type of leave may be granted to employees to provide care and support to a ‘defined’

person who is ill. Where evidence of the person’s illness is provided, paid sick leave or leave without pay may be utilised. The definition of ‘defined’ person is available from the Employee Relations Unit. Special Leave Special leave applies to certain activities which are not covered by other forms of leave. For example: jury service, donating blood, volunteer in State Emergency Services or Bushfire Brigade during emergency operations, examinations associated with approved courses and attendance at graduation ceremonies. Leave Embargo During the period 1 July to 31 October, due to work commitments, financial audit staff are unable to take flex or annual leave except in extraordinary circumstances. Flexible working

conditions allow for increased accrual of hours during this period.

Guide to the AO  summary

Study Leave

The study leave entitlement is:

Up to 4 hours per week for first degree and further studies.

Up to 23 hours (total) for CA/CPA modules. Note: Study leave can be taken weekly or accrued for use later in the semester. Leave without Pay Extended periods of leave without pay may be granted by the AuditorGeneral for reasons relating to travel, study, domestic duties etc. Approval is subject to: good and sufficient reason satisfactory conduct and services satisfactory arrangements being made regarding payment to a superannuation fund not engaging in private employment, unless approved by the AuditorGeneral compliance with Audit Office policy. Other Types of Leave Maternity leave adoption leave

military leave parental leave. Salary Packaging A number of Salary Packaging options are available to staff including: novated motor vehicle leasing

additional contributions to superannuation laptop or notebook computer. Salary Packaging allows you to sacrifice pretax salary on a range of options, effectively reducing the (PAYG) tax that you pay.

Guide to the AO  summary

Friendly Face Scheme This is an informal scheme put in place specifically for the Graduate and School Leaver Programs. A “Friendly Face” is usually a Graduate or School Leaver from the previous year. The “Friendly

Face” provides the new Graduate/School Leaver with an avenue for discussing issues relating to

work, study or any other matters that may arise. Further Studies

The Audit Office encourages staff to complete their formal qualifications and to obtain membership of appropriate professional bodies. The Office supports this in various ways by: providing study leave and financial support and encouraging candidates to form study groups within the office.

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is an independent and confidential counselling service for Office staff and their immediate families. It is administered by an external provider and paid for by the Office. The counsellors are experienced, qualified professionals with training in

workplace counselling. There is no restriction on the type of problem which may be discussed, be it personal or work related. The Program is voluntary and you cannot be directed to attend. You or a member of your family can make direct contact with our provider, Personal Wellth on

the toll free number 1800 500 068.