1.5 Publishing the annual report
Statutory requirement: Section 44(2)(a) of the PFA
A department must publish its annual report as soon as practicable after it has been presented to the House of Representatives, but in any case not later than 15 working days after the audit report is provided under section 45D.
Section 44(3) of the PFA
If a department’s annual report is published in advance of it being presented in the House of Representatives, the Responsible Minister must arrange for the publication in the Gazette of a notice indicating that the annual report has been published.
Whether or not the annual report is published under the authority of the House, the PFA requires the department to publish its annual report in a timely fashion.
Note that publishing prior to tabling in the House means that there is an additional step of a gazette notice. If departments publish before it is tabled, they will need to contact their Minister's office to ensure that the gazetting happens.
1.5.1 Electronic and other copies
The PFA allows the Minister of Finance to specify minimum requirements[3] for the publication or annual reports, but this power has not been exercised to date. However, the New Zealand Government Web Standards 2.0 at http://www.webstandards.govt.nz requires that all agencies publish on their websites any public documents required by statute (including annual reports) in HTML format. Making annual reports available in Adobe PDF format is optional.
Note that the Auditor-General requires the following disclaimer to be included with audited financial statements when published on websites (both PDF and HTML versions):
"Matters Relating to the Electronic Presentation of the Audited Financial Statements and Statement of Service Performance
This audit report relates to the financial statements and statement of service performance of [Name of entity] for the year ended [30 June 200X] included on the [Name of entity]'s website. The Chief Executive is responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the [Name of entity]'s website. We have not been engaged to report on the integrity of the [Name of entity]'s website. We accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the financial statements and statement of service performance since they were initially presented on the website.
The audit report refers only to the financial statements and statement of service performance named above. It does not provide an opinion on any other information which may have been hyperlinked to or from the financial statements and statement of service performance. If readers of this report are concerned with the inherent risks arising from electronic data communication they should refer to the published hard copy of the audited financial statements and statement of service performance and related audit report dated [date] to confirm the information included in the audited financial statements and statement of service performance presented on this website.
Legislation in New Zealand governing the preparation and dissemination of financial information may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions."
Notes
- [3]Section 80A(3) and Section 81(1)(ac).
