Who is an Independent Auditor General (AG)?

An Independent Auditor General (AG) is a watchdog whose role is to protect the taxpayer by finding waste and fraud at government.  

Is there a real-world example of how an Independent Auditor General’s find waste?

Here is my favourite one: Toronto’s AG did an audit on parks staff and found that some park staff were claiming to be working at a park as per their logs, but their vehicle GPS showed they were at shopping plazas and other non-park sites. It is this kind of value-for-money audits that the AG shines at. Statutory auditors and internal auditors simply do not conduct these types of value-for-money audits.  You can learn more about how exactly the AG discovered this waste here.

Over the past 4 years their Independent Auditor General found $376 million in savings and around $28 million in fraud. That is around $400 million in fewer taxes that the Toronto property taxpayer is likely paying. This works out to be about a cumulative $480 per Toronto property taxpayer (savings and fraud eliminated from $400 million over 4 years divided by 835,000 which is the number of property taxpayers in Toronto).  

Does Mississauga have an Independent Auditor General? 

No, it does not.   

Will having an Independent Auditor General lower my property taxes? 

Toronto’s AG has identified over $400 million in savings and fraud since 2020.  These are savings that directly result in lower property taxes. 

Experience in other municipalities shows that an independent AG can identify significant efficiencies and savings that internal audit, limited by its position within management as well as limited scope, may not uncover.

Wait, are you telling me the City of Mississauga has no auditors?

The city does have internal auditors and statutory auditors. What it does not have is an Independent Auditor General whose full-time job is to find waste and savings. 

If we already have statutory auditors and internal auditors, why do we need an Independent Auditor General? 

They do very different things. The biggest difference is that by law, the Auditor General is independent and transparent.

Statutory auditors are external auditors. Internal audit supports management by strengthening controls and advising on risk. An AG supports Council and the property tax payer by looking for waste and fraud, and providing independent assurance and public reporting. The two functions complement each other rather than overlap. 

What makes the Auditor General independent and why is this important?

The secret sauce to the AG is their independence.  

• The AG is hired by Council for a set term of 5 to 7 years and during that time cannot be fired by City Council except with a super majority.  This frees up the AG to conduct their audits without fear or favour.

• At the end of 7 years the AG’s contract cannot be renewed, so there is no incentive for the AG to be in the management’s or City Council’s good books.

• The AG picks which departments they want to audit, and senior management or Council cannot dictate the work plan.

This triple protection is the gold standard for the independence of an AG and ensures that the AG is working for the taxpayer.  The law also requires that the AG report all their findings in a public report.  

By contrast internal auditors report to senior management and there is no law requiring that internal audit reports be made public.   

Won't the Auditor General Cost more money?

When you look at cities that have an AG, the extra cost of the AG is in every case more than offset by savings and waste identified.

Here are some reported ROI’s:

• In Toronto for $1 spent on the office the AG, $11 in savings have been found.  

• In Vancouver for every $1 spend on an AG, around $4 in savings have been found.