Research publications

The Auditor General of Canada (AG) usually tables reports in Parliament on performance audits of federal government programs twice a year. Between 2005 and 2024, a total of 244 reports were tabled. These reports contained 1,348 recommendations to the federal government, or more specifically, to one of its departments or agencies, to correct deficiencies identified during the review of certain aspects of a particular program. The main purpose of this HillStudy is to provide a better understanding of the nature of the issues identified by the AG between 2005 and 2024. To this end, an analysis of all 244 individual performance audit reports tabled in Parliament was conducted and issues identified during this period were classified into 54 distinct categories. These categories were then grouped into nine classes. In addition, this paper also briefly looks at trends in the frequency of these issues over the same period.

This HillStudy outlines the roles of internal and external audit, how they differ and how they complement one another, with a focus on the federal public sector. In particular, it examines how internal audit can create value and some of the common challenges the internal audit function faces.