Fed: Auditor General finds no problems in two departments

AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-2000
Fed: Auditor General finds no problems in two departments

CANBERRA, Aug 23 AAP - Two key federal departments have been given a tick of approval
by the Auditor-General for their efforts to control fraud.

Both the Health and Aged Care Department and the Industry, Science and Resources Department
were examined for their fraud control programs.

In reports released today, the Auditor-General found both had good systems in place
to tackle fraud allegations.

It did call on the Health Department to ensure its private contractors were aware of
their ethical responsibilities in providing services to the government.

But when the Health Department did find breaches of contract or fraud it took criminal
action rather than using administrative or disciplinary measures.

The Auditor-General found the industry department could do more to properly record
and report on fraud investigations.

It called on the department to improve its fraud measuring systems including an assessment
of its fraud investigation process.

The report lauded AusIndustry, an arm of the department, for its high fraud investigation
standards.

It found AusIndustry tackled questions of conflict of interest, while it also had good
fraud controls over schemes such as the Research and Development Tax Concession Program.

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KEYWORD: AUDITOR

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