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Australian National Audit Office (ANAO)

3.8
  • 100 - 500 employees

Evan Lee

Working at the ANAO means that you get exposed to a diverse range of programs and entities across the breadth of the Commonwealth public sector, so you have the opportunity to learn something new on every audit.

Where did you grow up?

I spent my early childhood in Fiji but grew up and completed my schooling in Sydney.  After leaving school, I had the opportunity to go overseas for university and study political science and philosophy.

How did you get to your current job position?

I’ve always had an interest in government and started applying for APS graduate positions during my final year at university. In all honesty, I was only vaguely aware of the ANAO at the time, but when I came across the ANAO graduate program I decided to apply. I thought it suited my skill set and would give me broad exposure to the activities of the Commonwealth public sector. I was fortunate enough to be called to an interview and then offered a position in the February 2021 graduate cohort.

How did you choose your specialisation?

I chose to specialise in performance audit because I thought it aligned best with my background and my skillset. Performance audit is relatively open-ended in comparison to financial statement audit and is in that respect similar to the academic work that I did at university.

What was your interview process like?

Interviews for the 2021 graduate intake were conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They involved a one-way video interview, a written task and a group assessment. During the video interview, we were asked questions about why we were interested in working at the ANAO and what skills and experiences we would bring to the organisation. The group assessment involved working as a group on solving a hypothetical policy challenge, to test our analytical abilities and teamwork skills.

What does your employer do?

The ANAO plays an important role in supporting the Australian Parliament in holding the Commonwealth public sector to account. We do this by providing the Parliament with audit and related services such as performance audits and financial statements audits.

What are your areas of responsibility?

My primary responsibilities as a Performance Analyst are to collect and analyse evidence on the effectiveness of government programs. This includes liaising with government entities to obtain evidence, completing analytical work papers and drafting reports.

Can you describe a typical workday?

As a performance analyst, you get exposed to a lot of variety because you’re auditing a range of government programs, so I’m not sure that there’s a ‘typical’ workday. That said, some of the things that performance analysts regularly do at work include attendings meetings with your audit team or the auditee, analysing evidence, and working on work papers or draft reports.

What are the career prospects of your job?

ANAO graduates can progress to positions of greater responsibility and autonomy within the ANAO – I know that some former graduates from a few cohorts ago are now managing their own audits. Others have moved to other organisations, both in the APS and in the private sector, because the analytical skills that the ANAO fosters are highly sought after by other employers.

What would your career be if you weren’t doing what you’re doing now? 

Probably working on a PhD in political philosophy, and trying and failing to land an academic position.

What do you love the most about your job?

As I previously mentioned, working at the ANAO means that you get exposed to a diverse range of programs and entities across the breadth of the Commonwealth public sector, so you have the opportunity to learn something new on every audit.

What’s the biggest limitation of your job?

This isn’t so much a challenge for me personally because I’m not particularly active on social media, but if you work at the ANAO you have to be very disciplined about what you say online about politics. It’s not uncommon for people who work in government to be interested in politics and to have strong political views, but the ANAO’s credibility depends on us being – and being perceived as – unbiased and independent, so that’s a potential tension that needs to be handled with care.

Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current university student?

  • Don’t assume that there will always be a linear connection between what you’re studying at university and your career path; transferrable skills are often as important. For instance, philosophy doesn’t obviously lend itself to auditing but studying it cultivated an ability for rigorous analytical thinking which has stood me in good stead at the ANAO.
  • If you do end up working at the ANAO, you may feel out of your depth when you arrive. However, your manager and colleagues will be happy to give you advice and support when you need it, and hopefully, you will grow in confidence during your graduate year.
  • During your graduate year, take advantage of opportunities to try something new. You’ll rotate through different business areas, like data analytics and corporate governance, and will have the chance to learn new skills, build your network and better understand how the ANAO works as a whole.