DownloadManagement and accountability
Corporate governance
Overview
ASADA’s corporate governance arrangements comply with statutory and other external requirements, and aim to achieve sound and accountable administration and financial management. They ensure the efficient, effective, and ethical use of our resources.
Since our establishment in 2006, our main corporate governance practices have covered the following areas:
- Management structure – our senior management responsibilities, organisational structure, and senior committees are built around suitable terms of reference, appropriate controls, and the ability to monitor activity and performance.
- Management environment – we promote a culture that provides a coherent corporate planning framework, aligning our vision, strategies, planning processes and performance measures to meet clearly articulated goals. This is enhanced through leadership protocols, investing in people, a learning environment, and succession planning.
- Consistency and compliance – our management and staff adhere to the Australian Public Service (APS) Values and Code of Conduct when undertaking their duties and functions. This is also underpinned by the ongoing development and maintenance of systems that provide guidance on policies, procedures, and behaviours.
- Monitoring and reporting – we maintain a focus on efficient and effective business and financial performance. We achieve this through regular reporting against key performance indicators and the ongoing evaluation and review of outputs and outcomes.
Corporate and operational planning
The ASADA Strategic Plan 2008–11 sets out the goals and strategies we will use to achieve our objectives and fulfil our purpose of protecting Australia’s sporting integrity through the elimination of doping.
The Strategic Plan identifies six organisational goals:
Goal 1 – To be an influential leader in anti-doping in sport
Goal 2 – Establish a level playing field for clean athletes
Goal 3 – Build and maintain relationships that are based on principles of respect, openness, responsiveness and integrity
Goal 4 – Make ethical and fair decisions under our legislation, and ensure prudent management of our budget, openness and accountability
Goal 5 – Attract high quality people and maximise their potential
Goal 6 – Create a culture of shared leadership across the organisation.
Each goal has a series of associated strategies and expected performance outcomes.
Annual business plans articulate the key actions we will undertake each year to implement the goals and strategies in the Strategic Plan. Annual operational plans for each business unit then describe how each unit will contribute to the key actions.
Organisational structure and Senior Executive arrangements
Our management structure has three levels, with the following established accountabilities:
- The Chair is the ASADA Chief Executive for the purposes of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (the FMA Act) and the ASADA Agency Head for the purposes of the Public Service Act. The Chair is accountable for ASADA’s management and strategic leadership.
- Each Senior Executive General Manager is accountable for their group’s management and strategic leadership.
- Each Business Unit Director is accountable for their unit’s management and strategic leadership.
For the greater part of 2008–09, ASADA operated with three groups:
- the Anti-Doping Programs Group, responsible for the design and delivery of a range of anti-doping programs and activities as well as liaison with athletes and sporting organisations
- the Legal Services Group, responsible for the management of cases of possible ADRVs and the presentation of these cases to relevant tribunals, and
- the Corporate Services Group, responsible for providing the key support elements necessary to ensure the effective, efficient and accountable delivery of ASADA’s outcome.
As part of a consolidation of senior management roles, in April 2009 the Anti-Doping Programs and the Legal Services Groups were merged into a single Anti-Doping Programs and Legal Services Group, headed by a Senior Executive General Manager.
The remuneration for the Senior Executive General Manager Anti-Doping Programs and Chief Operating Officer was (for most of 2008–09) set through Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). On 6 April 2009 the remuneration of the Chief Operating Officer became subject to determination under Section 24 of the Public Service Act.
The Senior Executive General Manager, Anti-Doping Programs and Legal Services, is made available to us under a contract for services with the Australian Government Solicitor.
Governance committees
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee is a central element of our governance. It was established by the ASADA Chair in accordance with section 46 of the FMA Act and Financial Management and Accountability Orders 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. The Chair is ASADA’s Chief Executive under the FMA Act.
The role of the Audit Committee is to provide independent assurance and assistance to the ASADA Chair to meet his responsibilities under the FMA Act. The Audit Committee reviews our risk, control and compliance frameworks, and our external accountability responsibilities.
The Audit Committee comprises three independent members: Ms Jennifer Clark (Chair), Mr David Lawler and Mr Peter Kennedy. During the year, Mr Geoffrey Levy resigned from his position as an Audit Committee member, and was replaced by Mr Peter Kennedy.
Representatives from the Australian National Audit Office, our internal auditors (Deloitte), the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the ASADA Chair/Chief Executive attend all committee meetings. The Audit Committee met five times during 2008–09.
The Audit Committee operates a rolling annual program designed to cover its responsibilities under its charter in the areas of risk management, external accountability, the control framework, legislative compliance, external audit and internal audit.
Occupational Health and Safety Committee
The Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Committee is a formal structure which helps management and employees discuss and resolve OH&S issues in the workplace. The committee comprises the Chief Operating Officer, the Director Human Resources, and elected Health and Safety Representatives.
The OH&S Committee operates according to the defined OH&S legislative requirements.
Workplace Relations Committee
The Workplace Relations Committee was the formal consultative body established under the ASADA Certified Agreement 2006–09. It enabled employees to provide input to decision-making about workplace matters affecting them. The Workplace Relations Committee was responsible for promoting cooperative workplace relations within ASADA and for providing a forum for the consideration of staff views on workplace relations issues.
The Workplace Relations Committee comprised the Chief Operating Officer and four members elected by staff for a two-year period.
The ASADA Collective Agreement 2009–12, which came into operation during 2008–09, provides for a Consultative Committee consisting of the Chief Operating Officer, the Director Human Resources, four elected staff representatives and a Community and Public Sector Union representative.
Senior Management Group
The ASADA Senior Management Group comprises the Chair, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Anti-Doping Programs and Legal Services, as well as ASADA’s Business Unit Directors – the Chief Financial Officer, Principal Lawyer, Director Investigations and Intelligence, Director Strategic Partnerships, Director Testing and Sport Operations, Director Marketing and Communications, Director Human Resources, and Director Information and Security.
The Senior Management Group is responsible for:
- developing our strategic directions, priorities and policies
- monitoring the achievement of our objectives
- ensuring the efficient, effective and ethical use of our resources, and
- monitoring our accountability and compliance obligations.
As well as considering specific strategic and corporate management issues as they arise, at its monthly meetings the Senior Management Group deals with the following standing agenda:
- ASADA strategic risks
- OH&S issues
- human resource management issues
- expense and revenue monitoring
monitoring of progress on achievement of ASADA Strategic and Business Plans, and Key Actions.
Department of Health and Ageing Governance Review
An independent review into our governance and structural arrangements was undertaken by the Department of Health and Ageing during the second half of 2008. As at 30 June 2009 the government had considered the recommendations from the review, some of which will require amendments to our enabling legislation.
Cost Recovery Review
Under our legislation, we can charge fees for performing our functions. Our revenue from fees comes from around one-third of our testing services being provided on a user-pays basis (mainly to professional sports) and through the delivery of certain education products and services.
During 2008–09 a review of our cost recovery operations was completed in accordance with the Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines by a steering committee comprising representatives from the Department of Finance and Deregulation, the Department of Health and Ageing and ASADA.
The review largely reinforced our existing cost-recovery arrangements. While the review indicated that we should investigate further options for recovering costs as they arise, it found that there was limited scope for us to expand our cost-recovery base.
We are addressing the review recommendations and, consistent with the Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines, ensuring we have effective ongoing mechanisms in place for monitoring our cost-recovery arrangements.
Risk management
We are committed to a comprehensive, coordinated and systematic approach to the management of risk. Our approach is directed towards helping managers anticipate uncertain events, exploit opportunities and respond appropriately to potential weaknesses.
The Corporate Policy and Framework for Managing Risk and associated guidelines are consistent with the Australian/New Zealand Standard for Risk Management (AS/NZS 4360:2004).
Operational and financial risks
Operational and financial risk identification in ASADA occurs at several levels:
- The Senior Management Group identifies the key strategic risks that apply across our operations, and these risks are taken into account in our annual Business Plans.
- General Managers and Business Unit Managers identify the main pressures, challenges, and risks that may affect their objectives in annual operational plans for each business unit. This includes consideration of the strategic risks identified by the Senior Management Group.
Risk-mitigation plans were developed for all risks identified as high or significant.
In addition, we manage financial risk through a range of specific initiatives, including:
- Chief Executive Instructions, which are available to all staff and give effect to our FMA Act requirements. These instructions set out responsibilities and procedures that provide an overarching framework for transparent and accountable financial management. They also contain topics relating specifically to risk management and internal accountability
- a system of financial delegations which ensures that commitment and spending authorities rest with appropriate staff who are informed of their responsibilities
- the Internal Audit Plan, which identifies services and functions for auditing. It incorporates issues raised by the Australian National Audit Office in its financial audits of ASADA, policy evaluations, previous internal audits and strategic risk management issues and, where appropriate, recent Australian National Audit Office reports on cross-agency matters.
Risk management and insurable risks are aligned through Comcover and Comcare. Monitoring of risk management occurs through:
- weekly monitoring of significant operational risks by the Chair and Senior Executives
- regular monitoring of business unit operational risks by Business Unit Directors
- monthly monitoring of strategic risks by the Senior Management Group, and
- quarterly reports to the Audit Committee on Risk Management.
We continue to refine our risk management framework based on the results of the Comcover benchmarking survey we participated in during 2008–09.
Fraud risk
ASADA’s Fraud Control Plan 2007–09 and the associated fraud risk assessment complies with the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines. The Fraud Control Plan seeks to ensure that appropriate strategies are in place within ASADA to manage its fraud risks. The plan addresses the key elements of:
- preparedness – management support through setting an appropriate ‘tone at the top’ and establishing governance arrangements which promote an overall anti-fraud culture within ASADA.
- prevention – through understanding the sources and potential impacts of fraud by identifying and assessing risks based on the application of existing controls that prevent, detect and deter the threat of fraud.
- response – through the establishment of appropriate channels for reporting fraud and detection mechanisms.
- recovery – through administrative, civil or criminal processes and an examination of the lessons learnt to further refine fraud control strategies and enhance internal and other controls.
In addition, under the ASADA Fraud Control Plan appropriate fraud prevention, detection, investigation and reporting procedures and processes are in place. ASADA provides annual fraud data to the Australian Institute of Criminology. There were no instances of fraud during 2008–09.
IT risks
We aim to identify and manage risks associated with the delivery of IT services. IT Governance includes:
- the IT Disaster Recovery Plan, which sets out the strategies and processes to restore services if our central computing infrastructure is lost, either partially or completely. The plan aims to restore services within an appropriate time based on how critical the system is
- business continuity plans for our IT application systems, which set out alternative methods and processes to use, so we can continue to work while the ICT environment is restored
- our IT Security Policy that addresses the requirements to protect information holdings and secure operation of our IT resources. The policy is based on the protective security policies and standards in the Australian Protective Security Manual and the Australian Government Information and Communications Technology Security Manual.
During 2008–09 we began a review of our IT Governance Framework in the light of a number of administrative issues of low to moderate impact identified during an internal audit of our IT Governance.
Ethical standards
We are committed to promoting and supporting the APS Values and Code of Conduct as set out in the Public Service Act. Our Performance Management System includes adherence to the Values and the Code of Conduct as a key performance requirement for all staff.
In addition, Goal 4 of our Strategic Plan commits us to ‘make ethical and fair decisions under our legislation, and ensure prudent management of our budget, openness and accountability’. The strategies under this goal include:
- ensuring we are (at all levels) aware of, and comply with, our accountability framework
- ensuring our quality obligations underpin the work we do and the systems and processes we establish
- adopting a disciplined financial management approach, and
- ensuring our reporting obligations provide an accurate assessment of the work we do, and the results we achieve.
Social justice and equity impacts
We recognise the importance of clients having equitable access to our range of services, and our Customer Service Charter (see page 48) states our commitment to ensuring this occurs. We will work with clients to match our services to their individual circumstances, clearly explaining decisions to them, advising them of their rights and responsibilities, and explaining what they need to do.
We have mechanisms available for people to make complaints and procedures in place to ensure that any complaints we receive are dealt with promptly. We advise complainants of the actions taken in response to their complaint and of the further avenues of recourse available to them if they are still dissatisfied.
We adhere to the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness enshrined in our governing legislation and carried through in the operating procedures for doping control and results-management processes.
Internal audits
Our internal audit services continue to be provided by Deloitte and monitored by the Audit Committee. The 2008–09 Internal Audit Plan was based on the Strategic Audit Plan for 2007–10 and took into consideration the risks identified through the Corporate Policy and Framework for Managing Risk as well as priorities identified by General Managers and Business Unit Directors.
The internal audits conducted during the year included:
- Results Management Stage 2 (non-analytical findings)
- procurement
- post-implementation review of the new finance system
- records management
- IT governance
- review of internal controls
- background checks for accredited field staff
- compliance of enforcement activities.
Record keeping
Our record keeping practices comply with the Archives Act 1983 and we continue to review our current record keeping operations to ensure compliance is maintained.
We have developed policy, guidelines and procedures for the implementation of knowledge management within the organisation. Implementation will take place during 2009–10, starting with a pilot stage.
Quality management
Compliance with International Organization for Standardization 9001:2008
In November 2008 a revised version of the ISO 9001:2000 standard for quality management systems was published as ISO 9001:2008.
In December 2008, a surveillance audit of our Quality Management System was conducted based on this revised standard. As a result of the successful completion of this audit, our certification was upgraded to ISO 9001:2008.
As our three-year period of certification was due to expire in April 2009, a re-certification audit was conducted in March 2009. The successful completion of this audit resulted in ASADA being re-certified as meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 for a further three years, subject to ongoing satisfactory surveillance audits.
The scope of our ISO 9001:2008 certification is as follows:
The Quality Management System associated with the planning and provision of a doping control program and related activities in accordance with the:
- World Anti-Doping Code
- International Standard for Testing
- International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions
- Guidelines for Bodies Operating Certification of Quality Systems for Doping Control Programs.
- The services and related activities are:
- collection of athletes’ urine and/or blood samples
- management of Therapeutic Use Exemptions
- procurement of secure transport and phlebotomy services
- procurement of contract analyses for detection of prohibited substances or methods
- reporting of results of sample analysis in accordance with relevant legislation, standards
- and user-pays agreements
- investigation of potential ADRVs
- presentation of cases to anti-doping tribunals
- anti-doping education to athletes and support persons.
We remain committed to the continuous improvement of our Quality Management System and to maintaining ISO 9001:2008 certification.
Customer Service Charter
We are committed to understanding the needs of our customers and meeting them to a consistent standard of excellence.
Our Customer Service Charter sets out the standard of service that people who deal with ASADA can expect, as well as ways in which customers can help us improve our service.
The charter explains how we will make it easy for customers to access our services, how we will treat them with respect and courtesy, and how we will explain their options, including their rights and responsibilities.
We welcome feedback, and the charter also explains how customers can tell us what they think of our services.
Our Customer Service Charter is on our website at www.asada.gov.au.