ARENA was advised by the Australian National Audit Office that it would be the subject of a Performance Audit, which commenced in June 2019. The objective of the Audit is to assess the effectiveness of grant program management by ARENA.

To form a conclusion against this objective the following criteria will be applied:

• does grant project selection support the achievement of ARENA’s objectives
• are grant funding agreements managed effectively
• does evaluation of grant programs indicate that ARENA is achieving its outcomes.

The ANAO will conduct field work from June to December 2019 with the Audit report expected to be presented for tabling in the August 2020 session of the Parliament. At the time of preparation of this Annual Report the Audit was underway and progressing to schedule.

During 2018–19 ARENA was not subject to any judicial decisions or reviews by administrative tribunals, the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

ARENA received an unqualified audit report on its financial statements for 2018–19. The Auditor-General’s independent report is presented in the Financial Statements section of this Annual Report.