NON-FINANCIAL ACTIVITY AUDIT
What is a non-financial activity audit?
November 2013
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The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) undertakes non-financial activity audits on behalf of the
Australian government and states and territories to report on the accuracy and reliability of vocational education and training
(VET) activity funded under the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development.
The non-financial activity audit is designed to verify the publically funded enrolment data reported in the national VET
collections. The non-financial activity audit program consists of a transaction audit and a systems audit.
Non-financial audits are different to the audits/assessments which determine whether a registered training organisation (RTO)
is operating effectively within its scope of registration, undertaken by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA).
Non-financial activity audit
Enrolment accuracy and reliability are assessed by conducting a transaction audit on a sample of enrolments which results in
the calculation of an invalid enrolment (IE) rate. The non-financial activity audits generally take place in each state, once in a
three year cycle. The audit may occur more frequently based on audit risk assessment. States and territories may also request
an audit on the off years. Audits in excess of one in three years are on a cost recovery basis to the state or territory.
Management system audit
Management system audits are also conducted by NCVER. These audits look at the robustness of the systems used to record
publicly funded VET data in each state and territory. The management system audit is proactive in nature and looks to uncover
emerging risks to minimise their impact.
What is audited?
A random sample of publicly funded student enrolment records are selected from the National VET Provider Collection. This
sample is sent to the nominated audit contact in each state or territory. The audit contacts are responsible for collating
evidence from RTOs in support of the data submitted, according to audit guidelines for determining participation. This evidence
is then provided to NCVER for verification.
RTOs are required to provide evidence of participation to their audit contact for the records selected in the sample. NCVER
assesses the evidence. Invalid enrolments (IE) are recorded for student enrolments reported in the VET provider collection as
participating in a module or unit of competency where this is not sufficient evidence to confirm a student participated in the
training.
Based on the number of invalid enrolments an IE rate is calculated for public and non-public providers. The public providers IE
rate is used to adjust a state/territory’s annual hours or full–year training equivalent (FYTE) hours in the efficiency section of the
Annual National Report of the Australian Vocational Education and Training System (ANR)
(http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv50601). The rates are monitored over time to ensure the accuracy of reporting publicly
funded training activity.
Privacy
NCVER complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and manages personal information in accordance with the new Australian
Privacy Principles outlined in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012. Please refer
NCVER’s Privacy Policy for details on how NCVER collects, manages, uses, discloses, protects, and disposes of personal
information. For all privacy related matters, please contact: NCVER Privacy Officer at [email protected].
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For more information
The non-financial audit guidelines for AVETMISS R7.0 effective for 2014 data are available at
http://www.ncver.edu.au/email/Non-Financial_Audit_Guidelines_R7_0.pdf.
For further information please contact our ClientNATIONAL
Support team
at http://www.ncver.edu.au/contactform.html
CENTRE
FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH
This work has been produced by NCVER on behalf of the Australian Government and state and territory government, with funding provided through the Department of Industry.