2008-2009 Internal audit

To comply with the Treasury Board Policy on Internal Audit, we created an audit function two years ago. In 2008–2009, we hired a firm to provide internal audit services and secured the services of two external members to sit on our audit committee, of which the Information Commissioner is a member. To date, three audit committee meetings have been held, and the committee has approved an audit committee charter, internal audit charter and risk-based audit plan. ¹⁴

¹⁴ Information about internal audit is available at this link

The following are the key risks identified:

• effectiveness of our new and existing investigative processes, particularly to address the inventory of older cases;
• ability to recruit and retain staff;
• effectiveness of our information management/information technology processes and tools;
• ability to respond to access requests; and
• ability to comply with federal regulations and policies.

The objective of our internal audits is to provide “just-in-time” feedback on new and maturing processes, thereby enabling corrective action. Accordingly, the audit committee recommended, based on the identified risks, that we undertake an internal audit of the intake and early resolution of new complaints during 2008–2009. The results of the audit will be available on our website as they become available.