Archives New Zealand is developing an ongoing programme for the audit of government recordkeeping under the Public Records Act 2005. This page will provide information on the audit process and the development of Archives New Zealand’s audit strategy.
The purpose of the Public Records Act 2005 (external link) is -
“…to enable the Government to be held accountable by –
Under the Public Records Act the Chief Archivist is required to commission and pay for independent audits of recordkeeping in state sector agencies. The results of these audits will then be reported to Parliament.
The purpose of these audits is to ensure good recordkeeping across government to support accountability and good business practice.
An Audit Tool has been developed to assess recordkeeping practice in public offices as required under s33 of the Public Records Act 2005.
The Audit Tool will provide public offices with a framework for undertaking regular recordkeeping self-assessments and developing plans to improve their recordkeeping capability.
It is our intention to make a web-based, self-assessment version of the Audit Tool available. This will incorporate the Audit Tool’s existing structure, a user-friendly interface, contextual help and the functionality to produce easy-to-read reports.
The reports from self-assessment can be incorporated in public offices’ business planning, risk management and legal compliance reporting activities.
Archives New Zealand developed the Audit Tool from October 2008 onwards. It is based on the key requirements of the Public Records Act 2005 and the requirements of the mandatory standards.
During the development of the Audit Tool we held workshops with stakeholders from public offices, information management consultants and vendors, internal auditors and representatives from the risk and assurance communities.
From March to May 2009 an Exposure Draft was available for comment.
We received a total of 50 formal submissions on the Tool. These have been summarised in the report, Audit Tool Exposure Draft Feedback Report.
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development of the Audit Tool.
Archives New Zealand is currently developing a methodology to inform our approach to the audits and support the Audit Tool.
We have established the following high-level audit principles:
Public offices
Public offices are subject to audits under the Public Records Act 2005.
Public offices include government departments, crown entities, crown research institutes, state enterprises, district health boards, tertiary institutions.
For more information see the list of public offices and the fact sheet, Public Records Act and Central Government.
Archives New Zealand is a public office and will also be audited under the Public Records Act 2005. The Minister Responsible for Archives will decide on the scope and criteria for Archives New Zealand’s own recordkeeping audit on the advice of The Archives Council.
Local authorities
While local authorities are covered by the Public Records Act 2005 their recordkeeping will not be audited.
For more information about how local authorities are covered by the Public Records Act 2005 see the fact sheet, Public Records Act and Local Authorities.
2006
The first mandatory standard, the Storage Standard was issued.
2007
A business case for the Public Records Act audits was developed with external audit expertise provided by Deloitte.
The development of the Create and Maintain Standard and Electronic Recordkeeping Metadata Standard was initiated.
2008
In the May Budget Archives New Zealand received funding for the development of the Public Records Act audit programme.
More information on the 2008 Budget results can be found in a media release by the Minister Responsible for Archives.
Darrin Goulding of Darrings Business Solutions Ltd. has been employed as project manager to lead the establishment of Archives New Zealand's audit programme.
2009
Audit Tool Exposure Draft released.
Audit Tool finalised and made available on the Continuum website.
Richard Hipgrave, PRA Audit Programme Manager appointed.
Recruitment of audit team staff commences.
Development of audit self-assessment, workflow management and reporting tools commences.
2009/2010
The audit methodology will be further developed.
We will develop a schedule for the audits, identifying when each public office will be audited.
Pilot audits of a range of public offices will be undertaken to test the audit methodology.
The audit methodology and Tool will be refined as a result of the pilot audits and external consultation.
2010/2011 - 2015/2016
Audits commence.
For more information, please contact:
Richard Hipgrave
Manager, Public Records Act Audit Programme
Archives New Zealand
PO Box 12-050, Wellington
Telephone: 04 894 6032
Email: richard.hipgrave@archives.govt.nz
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