A whistleblower is a person, usually an employee, who exposes information or activity within a private, public, or government organization that is deemed illegal, illicit, unsafe, or a waste, fraud, or abuse of taxpayer funds. Those who become whistleblowers can choose to bring information or allegations to surface either internally or externally. Over 83% of whistleblowers report internally to a supervisor, human resources, compliance or a neutral third party within the company, with the thought that the company will address and correct the issues. Externally, a whistleblower can bring allegations to light by contacting a third party outside of the organization such as the media, government, or law enforcement. Even though it is illegal in many countries, including the United States, retaliation by those who are accused or alleged of wrongdoing on behalf of the company is reported by over 90% of whistleblowers. The most common type of retaliation reported is being abruptly terminated. However, there are several other activities that are considered retaliatory, such as sudden extreme increase in workloads, having hours cut drastically, making task completion impossible or otherwise bullying measures. Because of this, a number of laws exist to protect whistleblowers. Some third-party groups even offer protection to whistleblowers, but that protection can only go so far. Two other classifications of whistleblowing are private and public. The classifications relate to the type of organizations the whistleblower works in: private sector, or public sector. Depending on many factors, both can have varying results. About 20% of whistleblowers are successful in stopping the illegal behaviors, usually through the legal system, with the help of a whistleblower attorney. In order for the whistleblowers claims to be credible and successful, the whistleblower must have compelling evidence to support their claims, that the government or regulating body can use or investigate to "prove" such claims and hold corrupt companies, government agencies and or accountable. A whistleblower case would never continue on legally, or ever be reported via the news, without substantial and compelling evidence.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal government of the United States. It identifies its core "mission values" as: accountability, integrity, and reliability. It is also known as the "congressional watchdog".
Sheila Fraser served as Auditor General of Canada from 2001 to 2011.
The Canada Revenue Agency is the revenue service of the Government of Canada. The CRA collects taxes, administers tax law and policy, and delivers benefit programs and tax credits for the federal government and most provincial and territorial governments. It also oversees the registration of charities in Canada.
The National Audit Office (NAO) is an independent Parliamentary body in the United Kingdom which is responsible for auditing central government departments, government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The NAO also carries out value for money (VFM) audits into the administration of public policy.
An audit committee is a committee of an organisation's board of directors which is responsible for oversight of the financial reporting process, selection of the independent auditor, and receipt of audit results both internal and external.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is the Constitutional Authority in India, established under Article 148 of the Constitution of India. He is empowered to Audit all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the State Governments, including those of autonomous bodies and corporations substantially financed by the Government. The CAG is also the statutory auditor of Government-owned corporations and conducts supplementary audit of government companies in which the Government has an equity share of at least 51 per cent or subsidiary companies of existing government companies. The reports of the CAG are laid before the Parliament/Legislatures and are being taken up for discussion by the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) and Committees on Public Undertakings (COPUs), which are special committees in the Parliament of India and the state legislatures. The CAG is also the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the affairs of which are managed by officers of Indian Audit and Accounts Service, and has 43,576 employees across the country . In 1971 the central government enacted the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Act, 1971. In 1976 CAG was relieved from accounting functions.
Victor John Perton is a former parliamentarian in the Australian state of Victoria, and formerly the Victorian Government's Commissioner to the Americas, based in San Francisco, USA.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. The FRC seeks to promote transparency and integrity in business by aiming its work at investors and others who rely on company reports, audits and high-quality risk management.
The Federal Accountability Act is a statute introduced as Bill C-2 in the first session of the 39th Canadian Parliament on April 11, 2006, by the President of the Treasury Board, John Baird. The aim was to reduce the opportunity to exert influence with money by banning corporate, union, and large personal political donations; five-year lobbying ban on former ministers, their aides, and senior public servants; providing protection for whistleblowers; and enhancing the power of the Auditor General to follow the money spent by the government.
The Access to Information Act or Information Act is a Canadian Act providing the right of access to information under the control of a federal government institution. As of 2020, the Act allowed "people who pay $5 to request an array of federal files". Paragraph 2. (1) of the Act ("Purpose") declares that government information should be available to the public, but with necessary exceptions to the right of access that should be limited and specific, and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government. Later paragraphs assign responsibility for this review to an Information Commissioner, who reports directly to parliament rather than the government in power. However, the Act provides the commissioner the power only to recommend rather than compel the release of requested information that the commissioner judges to be not subject to any exception specified in the Act.
The Corruption and Crime Commission is an independent anti-corruption agency established on 1 January 2004 to improve the integrity of the Western Australian public sector and investigate allegations of misconduct against public officers. It took over from the Anti-Corruption Commission and has jurisdiction over all State Government departments, instrumentalities and boards as well as universities and local governments. This includes more than 148,000 employees in 278 public authorities.
The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA) came into force in Canada on April 15, 2007. The Act creates two distinct processes: a disclosure process and a reprisal complaints process. It also creates two new bodies: the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (PSIC) and the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal.
The Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada is one of the Independent Oversight Offices created as part of the Canadian Federal Accountability Act. The Office investigates wrongdoing in the federal public sector and helps protect whistleblowers, and those who participate in investigations, from reprisal. Joe Friday is the current Commissioner, named on March 27, 2015.
Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perception Index ranks Canada as the 12th least corrupt nation out of 180 countries, a drop from 9th in 2016. However, in recent years corruption has been an increasingly large problem in government, industry and non-governmental organizations. For instance, in 2013, the World Bank blacklisted SNC-Lavalin and its subsidiaries from "bidding on its global projects under its fraud and corruption policy" due to the Padma Bridge scandal. Canada also ranks at the bottom of the bribery-fighting rankings, "with little or no enforcement of anti-bribery measures". The 2014 Ernst & Young global fraud survey found that "twenty percent of Canadian executives believe bribery and corruption are widespread in this country". According to a study by the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan, "a large proportion of Canadians see their politicians and their institutions as fundamentally corrupt".
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a committee of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the purpose of auditing the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India. They check that parliament exercises over the executive stems from the basic principle that parliament embodies the will of the people. This committee along with the Estimates committee (EC) and Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) are the three financial standing committees of the Parliament of India.
The Auditor-General of New South Wales helps the Parliament of New South Wales hold government accountable for its use of public resources.
In New Zealand the Office of the Ombudsman was established in 1962 under the Parliamentary Commissioner (Ombudsman) Act 1962. The term "ombudsman" is Swedish and basically means "grievance person". The primary role of the ombudsman is to investigate complaints against government agencies. In 1983 the responsibilities were extended to include investigation of agencies that fail to provide information requested in accordance with the Official Information Act. The ombudsman also has responsibility to protect whistleblowers and investigate the administration of prisons and other places of detention.
The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) is Victoria's anti-corruption agency with jurisdiction over the public sector. It does this by:
Mario Dion is a Canadian public servant who currently serves as Canada's Ethics Commissioner. He was appointed on January 9, 2018, succeeding Mary Dawson, and will serve a seven-year term.
