An internal audit undertaken by the Department of Defence's grant program has identified a series of failings, from poor record-keeping to 'inadequate' records pertaining to conflicts of interest.
Australia's Department of Defence failed to appropriately manage the expenditure of taxpayer funds in a range of defence government grants, according to a previously confidential audit.An internal audit conducted in June 2020 has revealed widespread failures in the defence department's grants processA spokesperson for the department has told 7.
The department's Audit Branch reviewed a sample of seven grants across a range of different programs, including ad hoc grants and grants that required ministerial approval. The audit found the department also had poor record-keeping habits and was unable to locate documents, including financial assessments. Most grants identified also failed to provide updates to the department to ensure it had visibility that grant funds were being spent appropriately."The majority of grants sampled did not document their grant-monitoring activities," the audit found.
"In these instances, written evidence of any day-to-day meetings or interactions between the relevant defence grant management area and the grantee could not be provided."