Report of the Auditor-General

To the Readers of the Government of New Zealand’s Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2005

I have audited the financial statements of the Government of New Zealand for the year ended 30 June 2005, using my staff, resources and appointed auditors and their staff.

Unqualified opinion

In our opinion the following financial statements of the Government of New Zealand:

• comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
• fairly reflect:
  • the Government of New Zealand’s financial position as at 30 June 2005; and
  • the results of its operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date.

The audit was completed on 16 September 2005, and is the date at which our opinion is expressed.

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

Basis of opinion

We carried out the audit in accordance with the Auditing Standards published by the Auditor-General, which incorporate the Auditing Standards issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand.

We planned and performed the audit to obtain all the information and explanations we considered necessary in order to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements did not have material misstatements, whether caused by fraud or error.

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

The audit involved performing procedures to test the information presented in the financial statements. We assessed the results of those procedures in forming our opinion.

Audit procedures generally include:

• determining whether significant financial and management controls are working and can be relied on to produce complete and accurate data;
• verifying samples of transactions and account balances;
• performing analysis to identify anomalies in the reported data;
• reviewing significant estimates and judgements made;
• confirming year-end balances;
• determining whether accounting policies are appropriate and consistently applied; and
• determining whether all financial statement disclosures are adequate.

We did not examine every transaction, nor do we guarantee complete accuracy of the financial statements.

We evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements. We obtained all the information and explanations we required to support our opinion above.

Responsibilities of the Government and the Auditor

The Treasury is responsible for preparing financial statements on behalf of the Government in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand. Those financial statements must fairly reflect the financial position of the Government of New Zealand as at 30 June 2005. They must also fairly reflect the results of its operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date. The Minister of Finance is responsible for forming an opinion that those financial statements fairly reflect the financial position and operations of the Government of New Zealand for that year. The responsibilities of the Treasury and the Minister of Finance arise from the Public Finance Act 1989.

We are responsible for expressing an independent opinion on the financial statements and reporting that opinion to you. This responsibility arises from section 15 of the Public Audit Act 2001 and section 30 of the Public Finance Act 1989.

Independence

The Auditor-General, as an Officer of Parliament, is constitutionally and operationally independent of the Government of New Zealand. Other than in exercising functions and powers under the Public Audit Act 2001 as the auditor of public entities, the Auditor-General has no relationship with or interest in the Government of New Zealand.

K B Brady
Controller and Auditor-General
Wellington
New Zealand