Risks and prevention measures for government funded Community Service Organisations

As a community, we regularly hear and read about corruption and many people believe that corruption risks exist only in federal, state and local governments. However, any organisation can be susceptible to the risk of corruption, including Community Service Organisations (CSOs).

When it comes to CSOs within the heath and not-for-profit sectors, the Victorian Government provides various funding to assist in delivering a range of human services to people in Victoria.

The community and CSO clients expect that public funding will be used effectively and that CSOs will use the funding to help them provide a high level of quality services. The impacts of corruption are far reaching, particularly when it results in the waste of public funds and has the potential to jeopardise services delivered to vulnerable people and communities.

Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) released a report in September 2021 which identifies a number of key corruption risks that may impact CSOs delivery of human services. The report also highlights various corruption prevention measures and ways in which CSO boards and CSOs can strengthen the way they prevent and detect corruption.

The key corruption risks include:

• a lack of awareness of enduring corruption risks
• vulnerabilities in how departments and CSO boards oversight the delivery of government funded services by CSOs
• false or inaccurate reporting practices due to limited reporting systems
• misuse of sensitive information
• overlap or duplication of regulatory activity
• lack of capabilities and resources in CSOs governance and corruption prevention frameworks.

The prevention measures include:

• strong conflict of interest frameworks
• information security management
• training on the identification and reporting of corruption risks
• strengthened procurement practices
• develop profiles to assess and manage corruption risks
• proactive governance, auditing and corruption prevention strategies that identify potential corrupt behaviour.

To view the full report, click here.

To prevent corruption within large scale health departments across Victoria, a number of audits were conducted during 2021 that examined the clinical governance processes of health services, in particular the Victorian Department of Health (DH). The audits examined how DH oversees and manages quality and safety risks across the health system, as well as how the department produces and uses information to identify and reduce risks. The audits also covered how four key Victorian health services:

• set clear clinical governance expectations
• have established a culture of patient safety
• understand and respond to quality and safety risks at the board and executive levels.

To learn more about the audit of the Department of Health, click here.

To learn more about the audit of four key Victorian health services, click here.

The internal audit team at AFS can assist your organisation in identifying the corruption risks within your CSO and assessing the strength of the detection and prevention measures you have in place. Give us a call on 03 5443 0344 or email afs@afsbendigo.com.au