In this presentation, I summarise the March 2017 performance audit report by the BC Office of the Auditor General on Ethics Management, in 5 slides.

1. British Columbia Auditor General audit
of Public Service Ethics Management.…
High ethical standards are fundamental to maintaining
public trust in government.
The Auditor General surveyed the central agencies to see
how well the BC Public Service was managing ethical
behaviour.
APRIL 2017

2. The auditors found that the BC Government has set clear
expectations for public servants. Most of these seem to
hang of HR, finance or IT functions – which are really just
support functions.
Integrity and loyalty look to be the hardest to manage.
There is a useful definition for integrity – making the right
decision for the right reasons.
WHAT DOES IT SAY.
APRIL 2017

3. The controls seem a bit passive.
The survey results show 50% of staff hadn’t taken
the Service Oath in the last 10 years.
The report identifies that the BC is not doing
enough to monitor and evaluate how well the
controls are doing.
WHAT ELSE DOES IT SAY.
APRIL 2017

4. There seems to be a transparency or comms issue.
The Public Service Agency indicates that the low staff
perception of merit-based recruitment is wrong – given
Merit Commissioner (yep, they have one of those)
findings that more than 90% of hires were based on merit.
Also the auditor recommends more communication of
disciplinary actions, as a way of building confidence in
the culture of ethics management.
WHAT ELSE DOES IT SAY.
APRIL 2017

5. • There are clear expectations of ethical
behaviour.
• The system of ethics management isnt
giving enough confidence – with 84% of
staff scared of being involved or of
reprisals.
• The use of surveys worked well for auditing
ethics.
The comments on these slides are the views of Tim Kirby, Sydney.
You should always read the report itself before putting your reputation, or any money on the line.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN.
Tim Kirby, Sydney CA, CIA, LA-EMS
au.linkedin.com/in/timkirbysydney
APRIL 2017