There has long been a tradition in the Australian Audit Office of employing qualified staff on auditing duties. By this we mean staff who are qualified for admission to membership of one of the two professional accounting bodies, or have an accountancy major as part of their tertiary qualifications. There are some exceptions, particularly for those holding computing science qualifications but it is worth noting that of 475 professional audit staff 390 are qualified accountants and 460 hold a degree or degrees from a university or college of advanced education.
Although academic attainments provide a sound basis for a professional career, continuing education/ development is essential. More particularly, the principles and scope of public sector auditing are not treated in depth (if at all) during an undergraduate course. Consequently there is a need for significant and continuing training programs.
The development of training programs should not be carried out as an isolated element of an organisation's operations. Rather, the presentation of training programs must be the end result of considerations that include the objectives and product of the organisation, the identification of what is needed to achieve those objectives and the development of a strategy to ensure that achievement is, in fact, realised.
The professional development program of the Australia Audit Office (A.A.O.) is the result of such an approach. Following a comprehensive, office-wide needs analysis, a 3 year professional development strategy has been developed. A major element of this strategy has been the design and implementation of an associated 3 year training and staff development program which integrates basic training for new entrants, continuing professional education, the needs of specialist staff and the need for management training for professional staff.
The concept behind this approach and strategy is one of phased development so that
(a) Basic Training for New Entrants
Recruitment to the base level of auditing staff for the Australian Audit Office is largely through an annual intake of graduates directly from tertiary institutions. While an academic qualification can help ensure that auditors possess some of the knowledge required for auditing, it cannot ensure their competence because:
Graduate recruits, therefore, undergo a comprehensive and intensive 12 month, practical development program designed to develop a graduate accountant into an effective field auditor. This program consists of:
Each rotation is assessed on an individual basis and counseling undertaken where necessary. While the program for graduate recruits involves a significant investment of resources, experience to date has indicated that the intensive 10 months of practical training is producing a good quality and competent professional auditor who will rapidly acquire a level of competence commensurate with experience.
(b) Continuing Professional Education
The three year professional development strategy commits the A.A.O. to the on-going training and development of staff. The Office is turning, increasingly, to the provision of "in-house" courses and the development of on-the-job training techniques rather than the more expensive and frequently less effective externally available seminars and courses, although the latter are evaluated for relevance and used as appropriate.
A variety of training techniques is utilised including on-the-job training, formal training courses/workshops/seminars, individual learning packages and video assisted instruction.
For base level recruits, other than graduate accountants recruited directly from tertiary institutions, training requirements are met under Year 1 of the Strategy Plan. This provides for an individual assessment of needs on commencement and a matching of these needs with available "in-house" courses identified in the strategy as necessary for base level recruits. During their first year with AAO, these staff are then scheduled to attend courses on subjects to which they have not had exposure in their previous employment.
While training under Year 2 of the strategy largely concentrates on hands-on experience and on-the-job training, formal training is provided in a number of areas such as report writing, development of negotiating and communication skills, audit standards and procedures, efficiency auditing, EDP for auditors, computer security and controls, microcomputer training and the administration, control and audit of data bases.
As it relates to continuing education, Year 3 of our strategy plan focuses on management and supervision issues with further audit training mostly directed towards elaborating on knowledge and competence gained in Years 1 and 2. Associated with this, an important element of the program is the attachment of selected field audit staff to the Data Processing Branch for 6-12 month periods for on-the-job training providing exposure to D.P. auditing.
Complementing the above, the Office participates in a range of service-wide programs conducted by the central personnel agency (the Public Service Board) aimed at middle and senior managers in the Australian Public Service.
Additionally the Office encourages staff to undertake further tertiary studies, particularly in data processing, and it provides study time to facilitate this.
(c) Training needs of Auditors involved in Specialist Work
One element of our Professional Development Strategy is the recognition of the needs of specialists. In the case of this Office, the need centers on the DP specialist and those of the field auditors required to undertake the audit of computer based systems and data processing activities within audited organisations. The AAO training program, as it relates to specialists,
therefore aims at achieving two levels of audit skill within the Office
In the case of the field auditor, this skill is provided by a 3 tiered level of training covering (i) basic DP audit training (ii) Advanced DP audit training including attachments to the DP Branch and in later years, training in the management of D.P. audit projects.
For the DP specialist, the training program provides these staff with sufficient DP, Accounting and DP audit skills and knowledge to become DP audit specialists at middle and senior levels. Important elements of this section of the program are the provision of specific technical training (e.g. training in specific software packages or familiarisation with particular computer systems on a needs basis) and the maintenance of DP specialist knowledge-the 'state of the art'. This latter requirement is provided through participation in specialist DP conferences, attendance at selected external seminars and "in-house" courses conducted by office staff specialists and external specialist consultants.
Provision of Resources for Professional Development
The commitment of the Australian Audit Office to the three-year strategy plan incorporating the structured approach to training and development outlined above, carries with it a significant investment of manpower and financial resources. It is significant particularly for the reason that the field staff are situated at 8 different locations throughout Australian and travel costs are high.
For the manpower resources component, a policy has been established whereby approved professional development activities may absorb up to 7% of total available time. Experience over recent years has been that a figure of around 6.5% has been achieved. Intensified training programs arising from the introduction of the three-year strategy will require that the 7% resource allocation be kept under review for adequacy.
On the basis of the 3 year strategy, a Professional Development Steering Committee of senior officers assesses and approves an annual PD program in advance of the formulation of the overall office budget for coming financial year. This PD program is costed in detail and considered in the budget context. The commitment of the Australian Audit Office to Professional Development has meant a steady and continuing increase in funds available for PD to the point where these funds now represent 1.7% of the total Office budget. We do not regard that as excessive in view of the productivity gains that inevitably result from a well managed, properly oriented training program.