How we determine our work programme

Our strategic direction provides the strategic context

Our vision is a high-performing and accountable public sector. The ultimate outcome we seek is for Parliament and the public to have trust and confidence in the public sector.

The Auditor-General’s strategic intentions to 2028 describes what we will focus on in that period to help achieve our long-term outcomes. There are four strategic priorities:

• strengthening our core assurance role;
• increasing our impact with public organisations;
• enhancing our impact in te ao Māori; and
• building on our reputation as a source of trusted information.

We aim to have a good balance of topics across and within these strategic priorities in our work programme and to choose topics that respond to the public sector context.

We consider the public sector context

The public sector operates in a challenging and dynamic environment. When we plan our work, we consider the public sector’s operating context and its risks and challenges.

Our role as the auditor of every public organisation allows us to consider performance and accountability matters across the entire public sector. We regularly assess the issues, risks, and opportunities we see from all our work. Our assessments use information gathered by our auditors and other staff, information from our risk monitoring, and our analysis of public sector performance.

We also draw on our previous work, such as reports we have published (including inquiries, performance audits, research reports, and the results of recent annual audits) and our follow-up reports on how public organisations have implemented our recommendations.

Although our work is primarily about assurance, we also want it to raise the profile of issues we consider are important, encourage improved practices by public organisations, and help Parliament and the public to hold public organisations to account.

When we prepare our work programme, we aim to reduce the recurring problems we see in public organisations. We also look into particular activities or investments by public organisations that have high public interest because of the importance of the outcomes involved or because of the scale of spending of public money.

In recent years we have focused on improvements in public organisations’ approaches to integrity. We have also sought improvements in the quality and coverage of performance reporting by public organisations and the scrutiny of those organisations by select committees. The Finance and Expenditure Committee has also recently initiated an inquiry into performance reporting and public accountability.

Our work on integrity and performance reporting is not finished, but we are now increasing the attention we are paying to:

• Value for money – looking at both the practices of public organisations that support effective and efficient services and achieving outcomes and particular instances of significant spending;
• Long-term view – looking at both how public organisations plan, monitor, and provide for the long term andparticular initiatives with long-term implications for communities; and
• Te ao Māori – looking at both how public organisations discharge their responsibilities to Māori and particular initiatives that aim to improve outcomes for Māori.

This draft annual plan predominantly features proposed initiatives in these three areas.

We are also building on our role as a source of information that the New Zealand public can trust, as well as considering what other public organisations are doing in response to the threats posed by misinformation and disinformation.

We consider diverse views

We seek advice from those working in or with the public sector. Our discussions with select committees and members of Parliament provide us with important information. Our central and local government advisory groups and the Auditor-General’s rōpū Māori help us to better understand current themes and challenges.

Each year we survey members of the public about topics that are important to them. The public survey is part of an ongoing focus on ways to enhance citizen engagement in our performance audit work. Topics identified through past surveys include child poverty (the report was published in April 2025) and flood protection in Waikato and Tasman (under way).

Respondents to this year’s survey were most interested in:

• primary, urgent, and preventative health care;
• housing and urban development – in particular housing supply, social and emergency housing, and support for first home buyers; and
• education – in particular bullying in schools, special education services for disadvantaged students, and workforce planning for teachers.

We have recently carried out work on health and housing topics.¹ In response to the concerns raised by the public, this draft annual plan proposes that we look at bullying in schools.

Our work programme remains flexible

Our draft annual plan reflects what we currently know and consider to be a priority. However, if new information or risks come to light through feedback or if new issues arise then we may decide to change some of this work.

As we finalise the work programme for the annual plan, we will need to consider its overall achievability and the likely timeframe for completing individual pieces of work. We welcome feedback on the topics you consider most important because this will help us to prioritise if this draft annual plan is too ambitious.

Some of our work, such as inquiries, is normally done in response to concerns identified during the year. In recent years, we have also started carrying out rapid audits – more focused performance audits – that respond to issues as they emerge and aim to have more immediate impact. We aim to carry out four rapid audits each year.

Because inquiries and rapid audits respond to emerging issues, we will consider topics for these throughout the year. We are interested in your views about aspects of public sector performance that would be suitable for this type of work.

We will report on our work in our annual report, including any changes from the work programme outlined in our final annual plan.

1: On health, we published Meeting the mental health needs of young New Zealanders in February 2024 and we are looking at equitable access to planned care. On housing, we published Leading New Zealand’s approach to housing and urban development in August 2023 and we are looking at government efforts to support people in immediate housing need. On education, we published Ministry of Education: Promoting equitable educational outcomes in October 2024.