Auditor-General's report, Central government: Results of the 2015/16 audits

The Auditor-General’s report Central government: Results of the 2015/16 audits was presented to the House of Representatives today.

This report discusses the 2016 audit findings of, and the opinion we issued for, the financial statements of the Government.

For the first time this year, we have included “key audit matters” in our audit report on the financial statements of the Government. These are matters that we consider significant in forming the audit opinion. Reporting on key audit matters is a new requirement for selected entities under a new international auditing standard. We decided to apply this standard to the audit of the Government’s 2015/16 financial statements because we considered this to be of use to the readers of these accounts. It is another step in the evolution of good public sector auditing practice. We have produced what we believe is the world’s first audit report on government financial statements to include a section on key audit matters.

In the last seven years, global and national economies have experienced major economic shocks. As part of this, the resources of governments have changed, and some of these changes are reflected in the financial statements. For this report, we have considered these changes and trends affecting the operating environment for central government, and the main matters and themes arising from our work during the last seven years.

The financial statements of the Government are the pinnacle of the public sector’s financial reporting. We encourage the Treasury to continue to innovate in the development of these statements, public entities to commit to quality reporting in a timely manner, and auditors to continue to challenge public entities to continue improving and providing better information to the readers of the financial statements.

A two-page summary of this report is also available.

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