The Office of the Auditor General released information today about the status of the Government's financial statements submissions for the year ended 30 June 2010. According to the Public Management and Finance Law, every government ministry/portfolio and statutory authority/government company is required to submit their annual financial statements to the Office of the Auditor General by 31 August.
Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick said, "The submission of financial statements for audit on a timely basis is a key element of ensuring good accountability for government finances. For me to do my job properly, I expect all entities to submit their draft financial statements to my Office by the due date."
"These numbers take no account of how far each entity has progressed with their backlog of submitting financial statements to the Legislative Assembly," said Mr. Swarbrick. "I cannot make any comments about the quality of the submissions made and continue to work on the backlog of financial statements before starting the audits of the 2009/10 submissions."
By 31 August 2010 the Auditor General's Office expected 12 submissions from ministries and portfolios and received 6; it expected 25 submissions from statutory authorities and government companies and received 10. In total the Office expected 37 submissions and received 16.
These numbers exclude the Office of the Auditor General which submits financial statements to PricewaterhouseCoopers. These financial statements were submitted on 31 August 2010.
Further details about these submissions will be provided in the Auditor General's Annual Report planned for release in late December.