The Office of the Auditor General of Ontario (OAGO) is an independent Office of the Legislative Assembly that conducts value-for-money (VFM) and financial audits of the provincial government. It also audits organizations in the broader public sector that receive provincial funding.

Each year’s audit reports are published in the OAGO’s Annual Report, which is tabled before the House when it rises at the end of each year.

The OAGO needed a skilled copy editor who could work under tight deadlines to edit reports detailing their teams’ VFM audits (i.e., audits that assess whether taxpayers are getting value for their money).

I was hired to work with three audit teams to help get their reports ready for review by the Auditor General (AG) and the relevant Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM), in time for the Annual Report’s publication.

Copy Editing

I was initially assigned to edit two audit reports:

I edited the reports to ensure the writing was clear and free of run-on sentences, the formatting was consistent, and each paragraph and section flowed logically into the next.

I also edited the reports’ Summary and headings with an eye to communicating the impact of the audit findings (the “why should I care?”) on Ontarians.

Read the full report here.
Read the full report here.

Besides the Summary, each report contains a Background, Audit Objective and Scope, Detailed Audit Observations, and Appendices section, as well as Recommendations and the relevant ministry’s responses.

Each report required a strong Summary.
Figures were edited using Adobe Acrobat DC.

Copy editing also included ensuring readability, accuracy, and consistency of:

  • Figures
  • Tables
  • Appendices
  • Charts

I was then invited to work on a third report:

As with the other reports, I did several rounds of editing/proofreading to polish both the report writing as well as the figures, appendices, tables, and charts.

Editing ranged from larger structural edits (including writing some suggested copy) to fixing grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.

Read the full report here.
I shortened sections with too much copy.
I ensured that figures followed the OAGO style guide.
Recommendations needed to be clear and relevant.
I worked with the audit team and staff graphic designers to produce clear, accurate figures and appendices.

All of the reports required timely email communication and meetings with the director/manager and other audit team members to ensure I heard and incorporated their feedback into the editing, and to have the reports ready in time for their deadlines (7–10 days editing one report).

It was an absolute pleasure to work with the OAGO audit teams and staff editors, and I look forward to working on the upcoming reports in 2022!

(Note: Following the AG/ADM review of an edited report, additional edits may have been made by the audit team/staff editors, but the bulk of the edits were made during our work together.)

Services Provided

  • Copy editing
  • Proofreading

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