I have committed to a series of annual performance audits of grant programmes managed by public entities. This is to provide assurance to Parliament that grant programmes are well administered, with public funding allocated as intended by the Government. My performance audit of Te Puni Kōkiri is the third in the series.
The focus of my audit was to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of the systems and processes Te Puni Kōkiri uses to administer its grant programmes.
Te Puni Kōkiri has in place some good systems for administering its programmes, although several areas could be improved. For example, there was often not enough information to assess funding proposals to the extent required by Te Puni Kōkiri’s own guidelines. Contracts were often signed late in the financial year. In a number of instances, most of the funding was paid early in the contract, making it difficult for Te Puni Kōkiri to manage delivery of objectives. There was little documented evidence that Te Puni Kōkiri monitored progress towards objectives, and little evidence that it reviewed actual expenditure.
My work in completing this series of audits has indicated that grant administration remains an area of concern, and I will continue to look at how the public sector manages such funding arrangements.
I thank the staff of Te Puni Kōkiri for their help during this audit.
K B Brady
Controller and Auditor-General
11 May 2007