Public Commons

Part of Auditor

Under Section 178 of the City of Toronto Act, the Auditor General is responsible for “assisting city council in holding itself and city administrators accountable for the quality of stewardship over public funds and for achievement of value for money in city operations.”

Each year, the Auditor General submits its proposed audit work plan for the upcoming year to City Council for information.

The AG's 2010 workplan dated Nov. 10, 2009, submitted to Council is at http://www.toronto.ca/audit/2009/audit_workplan_nov10.pdf [Arida, of the AG’s office said that the 2011 workplan is not yet finished, but will be ready in the New Year - November 18 & 19, 2010]

“Appendix 2 provides a listing and brief description of audits in progress and new audit projects anticipated for 2010. In order to assess the relative importance of potential audit areas and to objectively develop an audit work plan, the Auditor General has relied on a formal detailed risk assessment exercise completed during 2009. The risk assessment process is a quantitative approach to prioritizing City risks, exposures and liabilities. The selection of audit projects through a detailed risk assessment process is a best practice.” [Note: The AG has stated that this risk assessment is an internal document and will not be publicly released - see request for information to the AG

Some of the reports done in 2010 which may be relevant to parks and public space are:

  - police training

- "Review of controls in projects funded through stimulus funding by federal and provincial governments"

Among the the list of completed reports from earlier years is:

Review of Reserves and Reserve Funds Administration CLASS Recreation Registration and Permitting System Information Technology Review Review of Food Safety Program – Toronto Public Health

The AG's website sets out general information about its office at http://www.toronto.ca/audit/about_audit.htm#duties

- its mandate " approved by Council...to assist City Council in holding itself and its administrators accountable for the quality of stewardship over public funds and for the achievement of value for money in City operations" - it lists its 25 member auditor staff

It's city council approved duties include:

1. projects identified by the AG's office including: areas of compliance, financial (excluding attest), program or value-for-money, information technology infrastructure, environment, and sustainability

2. projects identified by a 2/3 Council vote (an example of this was Council's request that the AG review how the City sole source contracts are issued (see 2009 reports).

3. forensic fraud investigations

The website gives the following information about its mission statement:

"To be recognized as a leading audit organization, respected by our clients and peers for excellence, innovation and integrity, in supporting the City of Toronto to become a world class organization."

The audit process is an independent, objective assurance activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. The audit process assists an organization to accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes....

At http://www.toronto.ca/audit/framework.htm, it discusses the audit framework:

The Auditor General's work will focus on strengthening Council's oversight role and continuing to improve accountability by taking a broad perspective and a risk-based approach, ensuring coverage of all areas of significant risk for the City.

The AG's Internal Audit function:

An Internal Audit group, reporting to the City Manager, provides risk and business consulting services to senior management and provides independent and objective assurance that the systems for which management is responsible function properly, providing service to departments and undertaking enterprise-wide projects.

It implements the The City's Fraud Prevention Policy. The policy does not deal with systemic waste of city resources.