Part 6: Independent Auditor’s Report

Annual report 2018/19.

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TO THE READERS OF THE CONTROLLER AND AUDITOR-GENERAL’S ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2019

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 36 to 54 that comprise the statement of financial position, statement of commitments, and statement of contingent liabilities and contingent assets as at 30 June 2019, 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 2019 on pages 8 to 12; and
  • the appropriation statements prepared by the Auditor-General for the year ended 30 June 2019 on pages 14 to 29.

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 2019;
      • 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 2019:
      • 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 2019, 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 27 September 2019. This is the date at which our opinion is expressed.

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

Basis for our Opinion

We carried out the audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (New Zealand) issued by the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, and we applied the Auditor-General’s Auditing Standard 4 – The Audit of Performance Reports that is also applied to the audit of performance information in many other public sector entities in New Zealand. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Responsibilities of the Auditor section of our report.

We have fulfilled our responsibilities in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (New Zealand) and the Auditor-General’s Auditing Standard 4 – The Audit of Performance Reports.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate 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 is responsible for such internal control as is determined is necessary to enable the preparation of the information to be audited that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the information to be audited, the Auditor-General is responsible for assessing its ability to continue as a going concern. The Auditor-General is also responsible for disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting, unless there is an intention to merge or to terminate its activities, or there is no realistic alternative but to do so.

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

Responsibilities of the Auditor

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the information we audited, as a whole, is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion.

Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit carried out in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (New Zealand) and the Auditor-General’s Auditing Standard 4 – The Audit of Performance Reports will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements are differences or omissions of amounts or disclosures, and can arise from fraud or error. Misstatements are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the decisions of readers, taken on the basis of the information we audited.

For the budget information reported in the information we audited, our procedures were limited to checking that the information agreed to the published Estimates of the Auditor-General.

We did not evaluate the security and controls over the electronic publication of the information we audited.

As part of an audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (New Zealand) and the Auditor-General’s Auditing Standard 4 – The Audit of Performance Reports, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. Also:

  • We identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the information we audited, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
  • We obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit 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.
  • We evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the Auditor-General.
  • We evaluate the appropriateness of the reported performance information within the Auditor-General’s framework for reporting its performance.
  • We conclude on the appropriateness of the use of the going concern basis of accounting by the Auditor-General and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Auditor-General’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the information we audited or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Auditor-General to cease to continue as a going concern.
  • We evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the information we audited, including the disclosures, and whether the information we audited represents the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with the Auditor-General regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Our responsibilities arise from section 38 of the Public Audit Act 2001 and sections 45D and 45F of the Public Finance Act 1989.

Other information

The Auditor-General is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included on pages 3 to 7, 13, 30 to 35, and 59 to 71, but does not include the information we audited, and our auditor’s report thereon.

Our opinion on the information we audited does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of audit opinion or assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information. In doing so, we consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the information we audited or our knowledge obtained in the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If, based on our work, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Independence

We are independent of the Auditor-General in accordance with the independence requirements of Professional and Ethical Standard 1 (Revised): Code of Ethics for Assurance Practitioners issued by the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards 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 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.

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PKF Goldsmith Fox Audit
Christchurch, New Zealand

Dated: 27 September 2019