News Releases
2024
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered her report on the province’s 2023 Financial Statement Audits to the House of Assembly, in accordance with the requirements of the Auditor General Act, 2021. The report provides observations on the audit of the Consolidated Summary Financial Statements, and outlines opportunities for improvement across the public sector that were identified and communicated to government and its entities in 2023.
2023
December 14, 2023 – Auditor General Agrees to Undertake Performance Audit of Personal Care Homes and Long-Term Care
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today acknowledged a request from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to audit matters related to personal care homes and long-term care in the province. The Auditor General has agreed to the request from the Committee, which is a result of concerns expressed regarding the status of outstanding recommendations from previous audits, some of which are nearly a decade old.
In April, the Auditor General delivered a monitoring report on outstanding performance audit recommendations to the House of Assembly. The report covered audit reports issued from 2014 to 2020 and provided a status update on those recommendations. Ongoing monitoring will be included in the Auditor General’s upcoming Annual Report. In addition to this audit and the continuous monitoring of prior year performance audit recommendations, the Office of the Auditor General is also undertaking performance audits of OilCo Newfoundland and Labrador, crown lands, the Medical Care Program, the operations of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, housing supply management, expenditures of members of the House of Assembly, as well as Memorial University’s facilities management.
October 19, 2023 – Auditor General Delivers Report on Memorial University
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered the audit report on Memorial University, as per the Provincial Government’s request in the Order in Council OC2022-088.
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The report was subsequently released by the Provincial Government on October 23rd and is available here.
September 28, 2023 – Auditor General Releases Performance Audit of the High Sheriff’s Office
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered a performance audit on the Office of the High Sheriff to the House of Assembly. The audit reports on findings and recommendations regarding the Office’s financial processes, staffing complement and competencies, security systems, and departmental oversight. The audit period was from April 2020 through December 2022.
The audit concluded that the Department of Justice and Public Safety did not provide effective oversight in support of the Office’s responsibilities and legislative requirements. The Office also did not have the financial control processes or related staff competencies and complement to fulfill its operational responsibilities for receiving and distributing court-ordered payments. In addition, the audit determined that the department was slow to respond to critical financial reporting and vacancy issues, and as of April 2020, annual audits had not been completed since 2017. Prior to January 2022, there was limited evidence to indicate that Justice and Public Safety took steps to address this issue.
June 21, 2023 – Auditor General Releases Performance Audit of the Innovation and Business Investment Corporation
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered a performance audit of the Innovation and Business Investment Corporation to the House of Assembly. The audit reports on findings and recommendations regarding the Corporation’s grant, loan, investment, and COVID-19 support programs and whether the programs were effectively managed and administered. The audit period was from June 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021.
The audit concluded that the Corporation did not effectively manage all aspects of its grant, loans, and investment programs, thereby increasing the risk that ineligible businesses were supported or that funds were used for incorrect purposes. The Corporation did manage its loan and investment assessment processes well. However, it did not manage executing and issuing loans and investments effectively. It was found that COVID-19 programs did not receive effective oversight, and as a result, some businesses received more funding than they were entitled to, while financial support was also given to ineligible organizations. There were also inconsistencies between the Corporation’s public and internal guidelines, which resulted in inconsistency across applicant funding decisions.
May 24, 2023 – Auditor General Releases Performance Audit of the Food Premises Inspection and Licensing Program
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered a performance audit of the Food Premises Inspection and Licensing Program to the House of Assembly. The audit reports on findings and recommendations regarding whether the program has effective management, monitoring, and oversight by the Departments of Health and Community Services and Digital Government and Service NL. The audit period was from April 2019 through December 2021. The audit concluded that the Department of Health and Community Services did not maintain proper oversight of the program, while the Department of Digital Government and Service NL did not effectively manage some aspects of the program’s operations, possibly increasing the overall risk to public health.
April 27, 2023 – Auditor General Delivers Report on Outstanding Performance Audit Recommendations
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered a monitoring report on outstanding performance audit recommendations to the House of Assembly. The report covers audit reports issued from 2014 to 2020 and provides a status update on those recommendations. The report is also a response to discussions the Auditor General had with the Public Accounts Committee, which inquired about the status of outstanding recommendations.
February 23, 2023 – Auditor General Delivers 2022 Annual Report
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered her 2022 Annual Report to the House of Assembly, in accordance with the requirements of the Auditor General Act, 2021. The report provides observations on the audit of the Consolidated Summary Financial Statements; an update on the status of recommendations from four 2019 performance audit reports; the final report on government’s financial response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and an update on the operations of the Office.
2022
December 7, 2022 – Auditor General Releases Performance Audit of Adult Custody and Community Corrections
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered a performance audit of the Department of Justice and Public Safety’s Corrections and Community Services Division to the House of Assembly. Today’s audit reports on findings and recommendations regarding adult custody and community corrections. The audit concluded that the department was inadequate in its efforts to appropriately and consistently manage adult offenders in custody and in community arrangements. The department also did not provide adequate rehabilitation programming, with outdated adult custody policies and incomplete risk assessments, for incarcerated offenders and those on probation or conditional sentence order conditions.
November 16, 2022 – Auditor General Releases Performance Audit of Nalcor Energy
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered the second of two reports to the House of Assembly on the performance audit of Nalcor Energy. Today’s report contains findings and a recommendation regarding Nalcor’s employee compensation. The audit concluded that Nalcor’s management and executive employees’ total compensation was, and continues to be, higher than the total compensation of comparable provincial government positions. Since Nalcor’s executive and management positions that were reviewed had the same accountability, problem-solving, and know-how classification ratings as equivalent provincial government positions, no rationale could be determined for such discrepancies.
October 6, 2022 – Auditor General Releases Performance Audit of Nalcor Energy
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered one of two reports to the House of Assembly on the performance audit of Nalcor Energy. Today’s report contains findings and recommendations regarding Nalcor’s discretionary expenses, conflict of interest processes, and the use of embedded contractors.
January 31, 2022 – Auditor General Delivers Annual Report
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered her Annual Report to the House of Assembly. The report provides observations on the audit of the Consolidated Summary Financial Statements; an update on the status of recommendations from two 2018 performance audit reports; an unaudited report on government’s financial response to the pandemic; and an update on the operations of the Office. The full report can be found by visiting the link below.
2021
December 2, 2021 – Auditor General Acknowledges Release of the Report on Physical Mitigation of Muskrat Falls Reservoir Wetlands
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today acknowledged the release of the report on the Physical Mitigation of Muskrat Falls Reservoir Wetlands to the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Assembly. The report is the result of a request from the Public Accounts Committee to examine whether a breakdown in communication resulted in wetland capping not preceding prior to reservoir flooding at Muskrat Falls.
November 2, 2021 – Auditor General Supports Amendments to the Auditor General’s Act
The Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today acknowledged and supported the proposed changes to the Act Respecting the Office of the Auditor General and the Auditing of the Public Accounts of the Province. Revisions to the Act will enhance the scope of the Office of the Auditor General’s work by making it the default auditor for all agencies of the Crown and Crown-controlled corporations.
September 29, 2021 – Office of the Auditor General – Auditor General Acknowledges Release of the Report on the MV Veteran and MV Legionnaire
Auditor General, Denise Hanrahan, acknowledged the release of the report on the MV Veteran and MV Legionnaire to the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Assembly today. The Report is the result of a request from the Public Accounts Committee to the Auditor General to review the process used during the construction of the two vessels, as well as subsequent mechanical issues the vessels experienced after entering service.
August 4, 2021 – Auditor General Delivers MV Veteran and MV Legionnaire Report to the Public Accounts Committee
April 30, 2021 – Office of the Auditor General – Province’s Fiscal Situation Remains Challenging
Auditor General, Denise Hanrahan, delivered her report to the House of Assembly today on the audit of the financial statements of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador for the year ended March 31, 2020. In her first report on the audit of the province’s financial statements, Ms. Hanrahan shares observations about the financial condition of the province and highlights certain risks that affect the province’s fiscal outlook.
April 29, 2021 – Media Advisory: Auditor General to Deliver Annual Reports to the House of Assembly
Releases prior to 2021 can be found by visiting the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador New Release Website.
