Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman.
A typical performance audit could take 12 to 18 months to carry out from start to finish, from the planning of the work to the ultimate tabling of the report in Parliament. The number of staff involved can vary from as few as three or four to six, eight, or more staff, depending on the size of the audit.
A typical performance audit done by the Office of the Auditor General will require 6,000 to 8,000, and sometimes 10,000, hours of activity by the audit staff. A large performance audit will have 8,000 to 10,000 hours charged to it from the Auditor General's staff. That doesn't count all the time that departmental staff take in dealing with and responding to the audit.
A typical performance audit is a big activity and reasonably costly.