The Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report 2003-04

Our corporate governance approach

The Tax Office corporate governance approach is directed at achieving our overall outcome and enhancing community confidence in the organisation through clear, strategic direction, decisions and actions.

Our corporate governance policy and processes are outlined in a corporate policy document, ATO governance framework, published in August 2003. Our governance framework outlines the key processes through which the Commissioner, as Chief Executive, controls the organisation. This internal document is available to all employees on our intranet. Key components are:

• our outcome and outputs framework, which sets out what we deliver, and
• our integrity framework, which provides the context for how we achieve our outcome.

Practising good governance enables us to maintain community confidence and trust by meeting community expectations of probity, accountability and openness. This, in turn, leads to higher levels of voluntary compliance.

Sections within 5.1 Corporate governance

• Our corporate governance approach
• Our governance framework
• Our integrity framework
• Risk management
• Ethics
• Parliamentary committees