ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the scope and focus of the audits. It addresses the audit methodology and the audit findings. The chapter argues that program evaluation is an essential part of government management. In general terms, the focus of audits of the evaluation function in the Government of Canada remained constant from 1978 to 1996. The 1993 Report examined the work of the Evaluation and Audit Branch of the Office of the Comptroller General and provided a comparative review of the evolution of evaluation in some other countries. Many program evaluation units merged with internal audit offices in departments. Given that the evaluation function always had quite limited resources, this cutback likely reduced the evaluation capacity in many departments to below a minimal critical level. The audits of the evaluation function in Canada have been relatively straightforward exercises designed to assess the extent to which evaluation practice conformed to government evaluation policy and met reasonable audit criteria.
