Audit Methodology

The Office of the Auditor General promotes accountability and best practices in government operations. Methodology is how the Office codifies the standards and practices that are to be followed by auditors in carrying out their work. It is an inherent aspect of what we do, why we do it, and how we do it. It gives rigour and discipline to our work as well as provides the structure within which audit teams exercise professional judgment.

Considerable effort has been put into updating our audit methodology in order to:

• recognize the unique requirements of our different product-lines;
• take advantage of the capability of electronic tools such as the Internet; and
• increase its usefulness to our practitioners.

Product Manuals

Our Performance Audit [formerly known as Value for Money], Annual Audit and Special Examination manuals, help support the work done.

• Performance Audit Manual - June 2004 (PDF: 923 KB / 132 Pages)
• Annual Audit Manual - January 2003 (PDF: 1.14 MB / 186 Pages)
• Special Examination Manual - March 2000 (PDF: 763 KB / 130 Pages)

Functional Audit Guidance & Tools

We produce audit guidance and tools for general application on value-for-money audits and for use in audits on specialized areas. Our guidance for general application includes the topics of efficiency, evidence gathering and conducting surveys. The topic of grants and contributions is an example of guidance on specialized areas.

The following guides are now available:

• Audits of Grant or Contribution Programs - 2001 (PDF: 52 KB / 14 Pages)
• Financial Management Capability Model
• Conducting Surveys -1998 (PDF: 180 KB / 46 Pages)
• Auditing the Management of People - 1997 (PDF: 189 KB / 41 Pages)
• Auditing of Efficiency - 1995 (PDF: 97 KB / 21 Pages)

Some documents are only available in portable document format (PDF). To access them, you will need to download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.