Auditor-General, Victoria, Australia
In 2005, I had the privilege of addressing the International Conference of the Round Table of Archives (CITRA) alongside the Director-General of the National Archives of Australia. That presentation outlined a range of case studies of recent collaborative approaches between Australian archives authorities and auditors-general, and put forward the case for a shared agenda for good governance.
In 2008, it is heartening to see that the move for strategic alliances between accountability authorities and archivists has continued to gain ground. This international conference’s theme of ‘Archivists and their Allies’ demonstrates an appreciation of the importance of these linkages going beyond stand-alone collaborative projects, and beyond audit to other kinds of accountability and governance instrumentalities. Looking ahead, these partnerships will need to deepen and develop as ongoing alliances, supporting public agencies to address their archiving responsibilities, deliver good practice in operations and maintain high standards of governance and accountability.
This paper will explore some of the key challenges for records management in government identified by recent audit work in Australia, and consider how they may be addressed by strategic alliances between records managers and governance professionals, and what role archival authorities, auditors and accountability authorities may play in supporting those alliances.
Within the Australian Federation there is a national (Commonwealth) government and eight provincial governments (six states and two territories). The Commonwealth Constitution provides and protects the framework for the Australian system of government and complements the respective constitutions of the states. Within the constitutional rules for relations between the states, each jurisdiction operates autonomously notwithstanding the interdependence of their finances and governance. For practical purposes there is little difference in the nature and level of government services provided across jurisdictions, save that at the Commonwealth level services are focussed more externally on foreign affairs, defence, etc while at the provincial level services are more domestically focussed on health, welfare, education, etc.
Although this paper will draw most frequently on relationships between audit and archivists, I will often employ the phrase ‘accountability authorities’ when speaking of the broader network of review and monitoring bodies surrounding Australian public sector agencies. These bodies drive governance standards for the sector, and both promote and rely on the integrity public sector records in a similar fashion to audit.
‘Accountability authorities’ are those institutions empowered by parliament to assist in monitoring and promotion of good governance, good performance and accountability in government. Their existence ensures, among other things, free and fair elections and independent scrutiny of the activities, decisions and behaviour of Executive Government and the public sector. In Australia, they include auditors-general, Freedom of Information commissioners, public service commissions and authorities, ombudsmen and sector-specific inspectors and review bodies (Office Of the Public Service Commissioner, Accountability Officers of the Western Australian Parliament – Accountability and Independence Principles, November 2006, http://www.opssc.wa.gov.au/documents/reports/accountabilityreport.pdf).
Within the Westminster system of government, parliament appoints an auditor-general to provide assurance to parliament on the accountability, performance and financial management of public sector agencies and bodies.
Australian public sector audit mandates usually comprise two kinds of audit activity:
External to government and reporting to parliament, the auditor-general plays a crucial role in assisting parliament to hold the government accountable for its use of taxpayers’ money.
The auditor-general reports directly to Parliament on the results of audits. Although auditors have no executive authority to compel actions by agencies, the prospect of being named in public reports generally acts as a powerful driver for change. Parliament and government can choose to follow up recommendations in auditor-general reports.
In Australia, primary responsibility for managing public sector records lies with the agencies themselves. Archival authorities adopt a role of assisting and influencing agencies in order to achieve good practice – developing recordkeeping standards and guidelines and offering consultancy to support good practice.
It is no surprise that institutions committed to good practice and accountability in government should be such advocates of good recordkeeping. The public sector’s ability to deliver efficient and effective services depends upon accurate, up-to-date records that can be readily accessed as needed. The management of public records is an integral part of the effective administration and governance of public sector agencies and facilitates:
Poor recordkeeping practices contribute to organisational inefficiencies, affect the ability of staff to make reliable business decisions and weaken government’s accountability.
Crucially, the public sector’s accountability mechanisms cannot function without adequate public records – audits, inquiries, reviews and investigation can flounder on a lack of documentation.
It is less obvious how or why audit or other accountability and performance monitoring tools may be important to archivists.
However, on review, it becomes clear that the contemporary Australian records management agenda cannot be realised without support – the challenges are too broad and the resources too tight to rely solely on recordkeeping teams inside agencies and state archives authorities. A range of internal and external alliances are needed – and accountability authorities and their work can be the leverage records managers need to create and maintain this support.
Before considering how these alliances may progress the priorities of record keepers, I will first turn to an overview of the key issues for records management in the Australian public sector, both then and now. It is these issues and challenges that archivists will seek to progress through their strategic partnerships with auditors and accountability bodies.
Over the past ten years, a number of Australian Auditors-General have touched on the state of records management in their respective public sectors. Three out of six Australian states and the Australian National Audit Office have tabled in parliament reports on records management since 1997 (List of recent Australian Auditor-General reports:Australian National Audit Office: Recordkeeping including the Management of Electronic Records (2007) Evaluation Process for the Selection of Records Management Systems (1997); New South Wales: Special Review – State Records Act 1998 (2002) ; Western Australia: For the Public Record - Managing the Public Sector's Records (1996); Follow-up audit – For the Public Record (1998); Records Management in Government – A Preliminary Study (2004); Victoria: Records Management in the Victorian Public Sector (2008)).
Reviewing this work, its clear to see a slow but steady evolution in this area, with some issues being addressed as the sectors develop, but others remaining. Basic compliance has spread, through the growth of archives authorities, introduction of new legislation and the spread of training throughout public sector agencies.
Moving forward, a report tabled recently by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has shown that whilst some new issues have emerged and some progress been made, there remains a long road to travel before our public sector record keeping practices meet the standards required for good governance, effective decision making and optimal agency performance.
Further, it is no longer enough to simply meet the record keeping standards of ten years ago. Demands continue to evolve, as new forms of records are generated and the public service itself changes ever more rapidly.
The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office report, tabled in March 2008, represented a wide ranging review of more than 100 agencies. This audit found both some old and some new issues challenging practices in the sector.
Whilst the audit was undertaken in Victoria, it is possible that our findings will highlight some issues of broader interest to records managers and archivists seeking to drive improvements in the public sector, and provide some direction for those seeking to form strategic alliances.
Disappointingly, we found overall that agencies still did not have in place comprehensive frameworks to manage their records. Almost half of the agencies’ responses to self-assessments considered that the standard of their records management required improvement.
Specifically we found:
Overall, we noted that the records management framework for the public sector lacked a compliance or monitoring capacity – the government could not know whether recordkeeping standards were being met.
These issues pose significant implementation challenges for agencies and the archival authorities.
Victorian public sector agencies have yet to address many improvements recommended by a Parliamentary Committee review ten years ago. In response to the recent Auditor-General’s report, the head of the Public Records Office of Victoria (the archival authority) pointed to resource constraints and the difficulties of gaining and holding priorities amongst competing government programs.
Inside agencies, the picture is much the same, on a smaller scale. Records management struggles for funding and priority, in the context of tightening resources and escalating community demand for performance and service outcomes. Improvements cost money and take time, focus and whole-organisation commitment.
Our detailed review of agencies indicated that more should be done by senior management to promote and provide support for records management. Where there was limited senior management support, records management was generally less effective. (Records Management in the Victorian Public Sector, 2008).
It is unlikely that either these government or management priorities or budgets will dramatically change of their own accord. It seems, then, that implementing improvements in record keeping in Australian public sectors will increasingly be a question of strategic influence.
The recent Victorian audit has found that organisations with more effective records management functions were those where records were 'closely linked to related functions such as risk management, compliance and information management' (Records Management in the Victorian Public Sector, 2008).
These alliances offered the strategic planning capacity often missing from records management units, and encouraged better visibility of record keeping issues at a senior management level.
Moving records management beyond its silo and into the wider internal governance sphere offers the best prospects for addressing many of the resourcing issues, either through partnering on projects or through supporting claims made for budget priority.
In a field where it can sometimes seem we are running to stand still, internal alliances present a genuine opportunity for progress.
Reviews and audits can help get records management onto the risk radar. Recommendations from auditors, parliamentary committees, central agency reviews, ombudsman reports can add to turn up the volume on records issues, adding a 'so what factor'.
Many jurisdictions require agencies to formally account for their response to these type of reports. Inside organisations, independent audit committees and boards, increasingly important governance vehicles for the modern public sector, will often have an interest in ensuring senior management responds appropriately to significant external audits and reviews.
Records managers can capitalise on these processes. They should look for opportunities to leverage the work of audit and accountability authorities, 'standing on our shoulders' to form internal alliances with their risk, internal audit and governance functions.
Outside of agencies, archival authorities can also benefit from the work of accountability authorities, adding to their own strategic capacity and providing research and analysis that would otherwise challenge their resources. The Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) has commended the recent Victorian Auditor-General report for enabling PROV to 'develop significant knowledge and understanding of the issue confronting government in the management of their records' (Records Management in the Victorian Public Sector, 2008). Beyond audit, there is further opportunity for this kind of advantage – in Victoria, there have been recent reports featuring findings, research and analysis of public sector records management practice from both the Ombudsman and Public Accounts and Estimates Committee.
Records and recordkeeping are fundamental to transparent, accountable government. They are indispensable to the efficient and effective functioning of all government agencies and the responsibility of all their staff.
Archival authorities in Australia can point to considerable achievements in their support of good records management in agencies in the past three years but, as recent audits signal, there remain challenging tasks ahead.
Archivists and records managers have little option other than to continue to embrace the goals they share with accountability authorities, and continue to encourage records management onto the public sector review agenda.
Considering the benefits both inside agencies and in the broader sector, it is not surprising that Australian archival authorities have continued the collaborative partnership approach that Ross Gibbs and I spoke of three years ago. I encourage records managers to also develop this
collaborative approach as they look inside their agencies for advocates and alliances.
In this spirit, the Victorian Auditor General’s Office has decided to take the step of sharing the toolkit we used in our recent audit more widely, to help agencies with self assessment and provide some building blocks for improvements. This guide will be tabled in Parliament in July, continuing our collaboration with the Public Records Office of Victoria and providing more opportunities for records managers to leverage these findings to cement alliances and drive change in their agencies.