Auditor general's funding nearly doubles ahead of Memorial University audit

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has nearly doubled funding for the office of the provincial auditor general ahead of an audit into operations and spending at Memorial University.

The 2022 provincial budget announced funding for the office will increase to nearly $7.6 million — an increase of 95 per cent from last year's $3.9 million.

The boost in funding comes as new Auditor General Denise Hanrahan prepares to put Newfoundland and Labrador's only university under the microscope, conducting a review of the university's operations and spending — the first audit of its kind since 2014.

"It is a really large institution and we want to make sure that we focus on the areas that are auditable and reasonable to give a report in a reasonable amount of time," she said Monday. "We have an advantage of that report in 2014 and we will certainly look at that. And our office will certainly look at similar audits that have been done in universities across the country."

Hanrahan said the funding was needed as the province expands the Auditor General Act, allowing for more expansive work to be done within the office.

"It's been a fantastic first year to be the auditor general, when you look at having a very modernized act and certainly having the support from government," said Hanrahan. "Our challenge now is attracting the people that we need and getting them up and running as fast as we can."

The last MUN audit, done by former auditor general Terry Paddon, focused on university operations, compensation and travel spending.

Hanrahan said the provincial government has been very general in its guidance on the audit, allowing her office to act independently. She said she couldn't provide an estimate when the audit will begin, as she is still determining its scope and crafting a plan could take several months.

According to Statistics Canada data, 76.2 per cent of the university's general operating revenue in 2019-20 came from government grants, compared with a Canadian university average of 44.8 per cent.

The audit could touch several areas, she said, including operations of the office of university president Vianne Timmons and infrastructure.

"At the end of the day our audits are really trying to tackle their effectiveness. Like, are they getting the expected results we want? So that would involve faculties and how they're utilizing provincial funding. There's the efficiency and then there's the economy of that," she said.

Hanrahan expects this audit won't cover all topics, however, as changes to both the Auditor General Act and the Memorial University Act will allow her multiple kicks at the can.

"It's not like I'm only going to get one shot at this. So we'll develop up several different types of topics we could look at, and then we'll just pick and choose what the first ones are," she said. "I suspect this will be one of many audits over my tenure where we'll be looking at programming at the university."

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