Independent Auditor’s Report

Annual Report 2016/17.

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TO THE READERS OF THE CONTROLLER AND AUDITOR-GENERAL’S
ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2017

We have been appointed by the House of Representatives to carry out the audit of:

  • the financial statements of the Controller and Auditor-General (the Auditor-General) on pages 48 to 77 that comprise the statement of financial position, statement of commitments and statement of contingent liabilities and contingent assets as at 30 June 2017, the statement of comprehensive revenue and expense, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows for the year ended on that date, and the notes to the financial statements that include accounting policies and other explanatory information;
  • the performance information prepared by the Auditor-General for the year ended 30 June 2017 on pages 18 to 42; and
  • the appropriation statements prepared by the Auditor-General for the year ended 30 June 2017 on pages 43 to 44.

Opinion

In our opinion:

  • the financial statements of the Auditor-General:
  • comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand and have been prepared in accordance with Public Benefit Entity (PBE) Accounting Standards issued by the External Reporting Board;
  • present fairly, in all material respects, the:
    • financial position as at 30 June 2017;
    • financial performance and cash flows for the year ended on that date;
  • the performance information of the Auditor-General;
  • complies with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand;
  • presents fairly, in all material respects, for the year ended 30 June 2017:
    • what has been achieved with each appropriation; and
    • the actual expenses or capital expenditure incurred compared with the appropriated or forecast expenses or capital expenditure; and
  • the appropriation statements of the Auditor-General for the year ended 30 June 2017, are presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with the requirements of section 45A of the Public Finance Act 1989.

Our audit was completed on 25 September 2017.  This is the date at which our opinion is expressed.

The basis of our opinion is explained below.  In addition, we outline the responsibilities of the Auditor-General and our responsibilities, and explain our independence.

Basis of Opinion

We carried out the audit in accordance with international standards on Auditing (New Zealand), and we applied the Auditor-General’s Auditing Standard 4 (Revised) – The Audit of Service Performance Reports that is also applied to the audit of service performance information in many other public sector entities in New Zealand.  Those standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and carry out our audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the information we audited is free from material misstatement.

Material misstatements are differences or omissions of amounts and disclosures that would affect a reader’s overall understanding of the information we audited.  If we had found material misstatements that were not corrected, we would have referred to them in our opinion.

An audit involves carrying out procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the information we audited.  The procedures selected depend on our judgement, including our assessment of risks of material misstatement of the information we audited, whether due to fraud or error.  In making those risk assessments, we consider internal control relevant to the Auditor-General’s preparation of the information we audited in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Auditor-General’s internal control.

An audit also involves evaluating:

  • the appropriateness of accounting policies used and whether they have been consistently applied           ;
  • the reasonableness of the significant accounting estimates and judgements made by the Auditor-General;
  • the appropriateness of the reported performance information within the Auditor-General’s framework for reporting performance;
  • the adequacy of the disclosures in the information we audited; and
  • the overall presentation of the information we audited.

We did not examine every transaction, nor do we guarantee complete accuracy of the information we audited.  Also, we did not evaluate the security and controls over the electronic publication of the information we audited.

We believe we have obtained sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

Responsibilities of the Auditor-General

The Auditor-General is responsible for preparing:

  • financial statements that present fairly the Auditor-General’s financial position, financial performance, and cash flows, that comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand;
  • performance information that presents fairly what has been achieved with each appropriation, the expenditure incurred as compared with expenditure expected to be incurred, and that complies with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand;
  • a statement of output expenses, other expenses and capital expenditure against appropriations, and a statement of unappropriated expenditure, that are presented fairly, in accordance with the requirements of the Public Finance Act 1989.

The Auditor-General’s responsibility arises from the Public Finance Act 1989.

The Auditor-General is also responsible for such internal control as is necessary to ensure the audited information is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.  The Auditor-General is also responsible for the publication of the annual report whether in printed or electronic form.

Responsibilities of the Auditor

We are responsible for expressing an independent opinion on the information we audited and reporting that opinion to you based on our audit.  Our responsibility arises from section 38 of the Public Audit Act 2001 and sections 45D and 45F of the Public Finance Act 1989.

Independence

When carrying out the audit, we followed the independence requirements of the External Reporting Board.

We carry out an audit of a public entity on behalf of the Auditor-General.  The amount of work we carry out on behalf of the Office of the Auditor-General is no more than the amount of work we did prior to our appointment as auditor of the Auditor-General, and is insufficient to threaten our independence.  Other than the audit of the public entity on behalf of the Auditor-General and the audit of the Auditor-General, we have no relationship with or interests in the Auditor-General.

The engagement partner on the audit resulting in this independent auditor’s report is Gordon Hansen.

PKF Goldsmith Fox Audit.

PKF Goldsmith Fox Audit
Christchurch, New Zealand