Council vows to do better after audit rebuke

Grant McKenzie.
Grant McKenzie.
The Dunedin City Council is vowing to do better after being rebuked by Audit New Zealand for delays completing last year's annual report.

The Otago Daily Times reported last week Audit NZ had criticised the council for ''significantly'' underperforming in the production of the council's annual report.

That included missing deadlines to deliver drafts to Audit NZ by ''a significant margin'', while quality was also ''clearly below an appropriate standard'', Audit NZ said.

Council group chief financial officer Grant McKenzie told this week's full council meeting Audit NZ's report was ''generally very positive'', citing improvements in areas like the council's contract and procurement processes.

The council had also met all its statutory requirements, despite the delays, but the need to do better to avoid a repeat of last year's missed deadlines was acknowledged, he said.

''I will be doing everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen again.''

Deadlines for this year's report were yet to be confirmed, and changes to accounting standards were creating a certain amount of ''angst'' within the organisation, he said.

The council was already talking to an external agent about providing assistance to the council, and Mr McKenzie would also meet Audit NZ representatives soon to agree on timelines for this year's reports.

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