The Australian National Audit Office met five of nine key performance measures in 2025-26, while completing hundreds of audits and reporting a sharply reduced operating deficit. Auditor-General Caralee McLiesh presented the activity and results in the agency’s annual report.
Performance against the measures
The ANAO met five of the nine key performance measures recorded for the 2025-26 financial year. The result presents a mixed picture: the agency completed a substantial programme of audit work, but did not meet all of the measures used to assess its performance. The supplied report does not identify the individual measures that were met or missed. It does, however, place the result alongside a sharply reduced operating deficit, making both delivery and financial management part of the agency’s account of the year. For public bodies and suppliers that follow audit reporting, the distinction is important: activity levels and performance against formal measures are related, but they are not the same test.
Three forms of audit work
The year’s work covered three different forms of assurance and reporting. The ANAO finalised 243 audit opinions for the annual financial statements of Commonwealth entities, Commonwealth companies and their subsidiaries, as well as the consolidated financial statements of the Australian government. It also completed 39 performance audits and 21 opinions on annual performance statements. These categories serve different purposes. Financial-statement opinions concern whether reported accounts can be given an audit opinion, while performance audits and opinions on annual performance statements address how activity and reported performance are examined. Keeping those outputs separate helps readers interpret the agency’s workload without treating every audit as the same exercise.
Achievement alongside a budget warning
Auditor-General Caralee McLiesh highlighted the ANAO’s achievements in the foreword to the 2025-26 annual report, including the volume of reporting and audit work completed. At the same time, the agency’s five-of-nine result shows that the headline achievement does not amount to universal success against its performance framework. The report also records a sharply reduced operating deficit. No figure for that deficit, or for the change from an earlier year, is provided in the supplied material. The combination gives public-sector readers two points to track: whether the audit programme is being delivered, and whether the agency’s financial position is moving in the reported direction.
| Reported fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Financial year | 2025-26 |
| Key performance measures met | Five of nine |
| Financial-statement audit opinions finalised | 243 |
| Performance audits completed | 39 |
| Opinions on annual performance statements | 21 |
| Operating deficit | Sharply reduced |
The Australian National Audit Office met five of nine key performance measures during the 2025-26 financial year.
WHY IT MATTERS
The ANAO’s results show why public-sector performance reporting should be read in parts: financial-statement opinions, performance audits and opinions on annual performance statements are distinct outputs. The agency also reported a sharply reduced operating deficit, while meeting five of nine key performance measures.
Reported from themandarin.com.au, 2026-09-24. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
