Item - 2018.AU11.4

The Audit Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council receive the report (January 22, 2018) from the Auditor General for information.

2.  City Council not authorize the public release of the confidential information contained in Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (January 22, 2018) from the Auditor General.

Every year, the Auditor General reviews the implementation status of outstanding audit recommendations and reports the results to City Council through the Audit Committee.

This report provides information regarding the implementation status of audit recommendations issued to City divisions in Cluster A and the City Manager’s Office. The divisions in Cluster A are:

Affordable Housing
Children’s Services
Court Services
Economic Development & Culture
Toronto Paramedic Services
Employment & Social Services
Long-Term Care Homes & Services
Parks, Forestry & Recreation
Public Health
Shelter, Support & Housing Administration
Social Development, Finance & Administration
Toronto Office of Partnerships

 
The Human Resources Division is part of the City Manager’s Office.

This report also provides information on the potential cost savings from outstanding audit recommendations relating to City divisions in Cluster A and the City Manager’s Office in response to a motion adopted by the Audit Committee at its July 4, 2016, meeting.

As of January 19, 2018, 95 per cent of the total 470 recommendations issued by the Auditor General to Cluster A City divisions and the City Manager’s Office have been fully implemented. This excludes 67 recommendations that are no longer applicable.

Specifically, included in this year’s follow-up process are 48 outstanding recommendations from 13 audit reports previously issued to Cluster A divisions or the City Manager’s Office. Among these 48 recommendations, we verified that 22 recommendations (46 per cent) have been fully implemented, 25 recommendations (52 per cent) were either reported by management or determined by our review as being not fully implemented, and 1 recommendation (2 per cent) is no longer applicable.

Continued efforts to implement outstanding recommendations will provide additional benefits to the City such as improving performance measures, enhancing information system capacities, and developing program-specific long-term strategies or master plans.

Many of the City divisions in Cluster A and the City Manager’s Office have undertaken a significant amount of work to implement the recommendations. While a number of the recommendations have not been fully implemented, we recognize that some of the recommended changes require significant system changes or the development of long-term strategies, hence necessitating a longer time frame for full implementation.

Among the audit reports with outstanding recommendations, the 2009 audit report on the Capital Program of the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division continues to have three recommendations not fully implemented to date. Management indicated that they have made progress towards the implementation of these recommendations. Further details are provided on pages 7-8 of this report, and pages 10-11 in Attachment 2.

We express our appreciation for the co-operation and assistance we received from management and staff of City divisions in Cluster A and the City Manager’s Office during this year’s follow-up review process.