Government Finances
Page updated 16 May 2013
Overview of the government's finances including financial reporting for the government as a whole, the government's revenue and expenditure, its assets and liabilities and its fiscal strategy.
Advising the government on its finances is a core role of the Treasury. The Treasury is responsible for establishing and maintaining controls to ensure that all government financial transactions are within statutory authority, and that use of public money is properly recorded. The Treasury also prepares forecasts, including economic and fiscal updates as part of the Budget process.
Government finances take into account all of the issues any business does, including revenue and expenditure, and assets and liabilities. And like any business, the government must also prepare financial statements at regular intervals (see month end and year end financial statements). These statements are prepared by the Treasury and cover all government entities, including Ministers of the Crown, Offices of Parliament, departments, crown entities, state-owned enterprises, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Public Trust office. A full list of government reporting entities can be found in the Forecast Financial Statements chapter in the 2013 Budget and Economic and Fiscal Update in the section titled Government Reporting Entity as at 29 April 2013. Statements are prepared in accordance with the New Zealand equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards.
In this section of the website we introduce:
- the requirements and standards for financial reporting by the government that lead to the publication of the Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand
- Treasury-published information on the government's assets and liabilities
- how the government manages its finances within New Zealand's public financial management system, and
- information on the fiscal strategy of the government and its long-term fiscal position.
The Treasury's Role
The Treasury is responsible for establishing and maintaining controls to ensure that all government financial transactions are within statutory authority, and that all use of public money is properly recorded.
The Treasury's role in managing the government's finances can be broken into three broad areas:
- Preparing the Financial Statements of the Government in accordance with the Public Sector Finance Act 1989;
- Preparing guidance for departments on Financial Management and Reporting by State sector entities; and
- Preparing forecasts (Economic and Fiscal Updates) as part of the annual Budget process.
Key Publications
- Putting It Together: An Explanatory Guide to New Zealand's State Sector Financial Management System (September 2011)
- Guide to the Public Finance Act
- Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand
- Economic and Fiscal Updates
- Fiscal Strategy Report
- Statements on the Long-term Fiscal Position
- Investment Statements
