A recent audit of the entire federal bureaucracy found the level of disclosure required in financial statements was resource intensive and in some cases unwarranted.

The audit, which was commissioned by the board of APS secretaries and prepared by former senior public servant Barbara Belcher, found smaller agencies felt the burden more than others.

"The message received during consultations was that current disclosure loads were extensive and out of proportion to meeting accountability obligations to the parliament," the audit said.

"This situation applied to all entities, and was further accentuated for smaller entities by the need to meet the same obligations as larger entities under the 'one-size-fits-all' approach."

The Belcher report made 134 recommendations and called for departments to lead cultural change, overhaul vetting processes and support electronic tabling in parliament. All recommendations have been accepted.

Departments have been working for years to reduce the level of amount of preparation required for financial statements, although the audit found further work was needed to streamline processes.

Feedback revealed public servants were concerned some reporting standards would not be applicable in the public sector and only created additional work and regulation

"The level of disclosures required to be presented in the department's financial statements are burdensome," the report said.

"The most resource intensive impact of internal government regulation is reporting and the financial audit process."

Department of Finance secretary Jane Halton said the report would inform an ongoing assessment of processes and a commitment to reduce red tape and bureaucracy.

"Over the coming months we will start to see regulation that is better targeted, more effective, and ultimately uses less of our scarce resources," she said.

"This will allow us to be better focussed on delivering services for the community. The review will help us to test future regulation against a set of principles, to avoid the future occurrence of red tape."

The Belcher report also recommended departments examine freedom of information processes to reduce regulation and become more transparent to decrease requests.

"The FOI Act should be amended to no longer require entities to report quarterly and annually, and instead only provide relevant information annually to a single point in government," the report said.

"The administrative burden of scanning and making such documents available online is low, with potential savings in having to individually provide such material to an applicant.

"Enhancing the use of disclosure logs is important for transparency and accountability of government, and to move towards a pro-disclosure culture across government."