Auditor-General's overview

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are an important and financially significant part of the public sector. I am the statutory auditor of SOEs and listed companies that are majority owned by the Crown.

This report provides an analysis of what our audit work and audited financial statements can tell us about the financial health of SOEs and the listed companies. We do not provide a definitive judgement on the companies' financial health and their vulnerability to uncertainty. Instead, our analysis provides "indicators" that should prompt further questions by Parliament and the public.

I also report on the results of follow-up work we did to see how Transpower has responded to recommendations we made in 2011. Transpower has made good progress in addressing our 2011 recommendations. It has been proactive in its efforts to improve grid asset and risk management.

My Office has received questions about the accountability of the companies subject to the Government's partial share offers. In this report, I set out my role in the public share offers and reinforce my continued role as the auditor of these companies. They are still public entities, and their accountability requirements are similar to the requirements they had as SOEs.

This report complements other work my Office has done on Crown-owned companies, including a report we published in February 2014, Maintaining a future focus in governing Crown-owned companies.

I trust the analysis in this report will be useful for Parliamentarians and others.

Lyn Provost
Controller and Auditor-General

25 July 2014