What to Expect—An Auditee’s Guide to the Performance Audit Process

Many issues cut across more than one department or agency. When performance audit work of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) includes a number of federal departments and agencies, the Office

• sends letters of notification to the appropriate central agency or agencies, and to all other entities included in the scope of the audit;
• takes into account any administrative arrangements with each audited entity when meeting or communicating with it;
• requests a lead department to identify a contact person within their entity to facilitate coordination of entities’ communication with the OAG during the audit and formal responses to the audit; and
• asks each audited entity (after the initial contact has been made) to formally acknowledge its responsibility for areas included in the scope of the audit.

Audited entities may receive only those portions of the principal’s (PX) draft chapter that are relevant to them. If circumstances warrant or if all audited entities agree, the full PX draft chapter may be provided to all audited entities. Only the audited entity or entities mentioned directly in a recommendation will be required to respond, initially in draft form, to that recommendation.

Following confirmation and validation of the facts in the PX draft chapter, the OAG will normally send all entities covered by the scope of the audit a complete copy of the deputy minister (DM) transmission draft chapter, which will include the draft entity responses to recommendations. The entities are expected to provide their final comments and sign-off, including written confirmation that their responses to the recommendations are final.

Related information sheets

• Roles and responsibilities
• Interaction with departmental audit committees
• Access to entity information by the Office of the Auditor General
• Handling and treatment of information
• Long-term audit plan—Strategic Audit Plan
• Planning phase of a performance audit
• Examination phase of a performance audit
• Reporting phase of a performance audit
• Developing and responding to recommendations
• Tabling
• After the performance audit
• A road map for performance audits
• Glossary of terms