Australian Government
Auditing and Assurance Standards Board
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The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) is an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and is required to comply with the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) requirements in Part II of that Act. This plan sets out how we propose to do so. It is prepared in accordance with section 8(1) of the FOI Act.
The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) is an independent, non-corporate Commonwealth entity of the Australian Government, responsible for developing, issuing and maintaining auditing and assurance standards.
Sound public interest-oriented auditing and assurance standards are necessary to reinforce the credibility of the auditing and assurance processes for those who use financial and other information. The AUASB standards are legally enforceable for audits or reviews of financial reports required under the Corporations Act 2001.
The AUASB’s role extends to liaison with other standards setters and participation in standard-setting initiatives.
AUASB is required to prepare this plan by section 8(1) of the FOI Act. Its purpose is to show what information we propose to publish, how and to whom the information will be published, and how we will otherwise comply with the IPS requirements.
The plan outlines the mechanisms and procedures which AUASB will put into place in relation to the:
The Finance Manager is responsible for leading our work on administering our IPS. That work is being carried out by our Freedom of Information (FOI) team with the assistance of our Web Publishing team. All relevant AUASB business units are consulted as required.
AUASB has always published large amounts of information of interest to our stakeholders and the public at large. We have done so under relevant legislation.
AUASB took the following steps to establish its IPS entry:
AUASB will review compliance with the IPS requirements on an annual basis.
Where information is made available under the IPS other than via our website, we do not intend to charge for obtaining a copy where the information requested is less than 50 pages. Where it is over 50 pages, minimal charges may be levied on a cost recovery basis whether the request is for the material in hardcopy or in electronic form. This may include copying and postal charges where relevant.
AUASB will, to the extent practicable, publish information under the IPS on its website. In doing so, we adopt the organisation of information on that website, and co- locate it with information of a similar kind. For example, any additional operational information relating to financial services regulation will be co located with existing information about financial services.
Should it be necessary to add new kinds of information because of the IPS, we will locate that information on our website in a way that is consistent with its existing layout.
AUASB's website already includes features aimed at ensuring that the information available on it is discoverable, understandable and machine readable. These features will be equally applicable to information added under the IPS. For example:
In addition, our website contains information specifically dealing with FOI. It includes links to:
AUASB continues to work towards ensuring our website is in compliance with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) in accordance with the requirements of that Strategy. For more information, see our Accessibility page.
We will publish this plan. We will also publish the other information required to the published under s 8(2) of the FOI Act.
AUASB publishes a large amount of information of a kind that is not required to be published under the IPS and will continue to do so. This includes information relevant to our key stakeholders and information of a general research and educative nature.
AUASB will review its information holdings on an annual basis to ensure that what is published is current, accurate and complete. We will also review this plan annually and if necessary, update it to ensure that it meets our information management requirements and any applicable guidance issued by the Office of the Information Commissioner. Between the annual reviews we will keep abreast of changes to the guidelines of the Office of the Information Commissioner to ensure that AUASB responds promptly to any developments.
In conducting our reviews, we will also have regard to: