Publications
Annual Report
2006-2007
Financial Statements 2006-2007
- Audit report
- Unqualified Opinion
- Basis of Opinion
- Responsibilities of the Board and the Auditor
- Independence
- Matters Relating to the Electronic Presentation of the Audited Financial statements
Audit report
TO THE READERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE COMMISSION’S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2007
The Auditor-General is the auditor of the Earthquake Commission (the Commission). The Auditor-General has appointed me, Devan Menon, using the staff and resources of Audit New Zealand, to carry out the audit on his behalf. The audit covers the Financial Statements and Statement of Service Performance included in the Annual Report of the Commission for the year ended 30 June 2007.
Unqualified Opinion
In our opinion:- The Financial Statements of the Commission on pages 17 to 34:
- comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
- fairly reflect:
- the Commission’s financial position as at 30 June 2007; and
- the results of its operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date.
- The Statement of Service Performance of the Commission on pages 35 to 38:
- complies with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
- fairly reflects for each class of outputs:
- its standards of delivery performance achieved, as compared with the forecast standards outlined in the statement of forecast service performance adopted at the start of the financial year; and
- its actual revenue earned and output expenses incurred, as compared with the forecast revenues and output expenses outlined in the statement of forecast service performance adopted at the start of the financial year.
The audit was completed on 13 September 2007, and is the date at which our opinion is expressed.
The basis of our opinion is explained below. In addition, we outline the responsibilities of the Board and the Auditor, and explain our independence.
Basis of Opinion
We carried out the audit in accordance with the Auditor- General’s Auditing Standards, which incorporate the New Zealand Auditing Standards.
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 and Statement of Service Performance 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 and the Statement of Service Performance. If we had found material misstatements that were not corrected, we would have referred to them in our opinion.
The audit involved performing procedures to test the information presented in the Financial Statements and Statement of Service Performance. 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 analyses to identify anomalies in the reported data;
- reviewing significant estimates and judgements made by the Board;
- confirming year-end balances;
- determining whether accounting policies are appropriate and consistently applied; and
- determining whether all Financial Statement and Statement of Service Performance disclosures are adequate.
We did not examine every transaction, nor do we guarantee complete accuracy of the Financial Statements or Statement of Service Performance.
We evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the Financial Statements and Statement of Service Performance. We obtained all the information and explanations we required to support our opinion above.
Responsibilities of the Board and the Auditor
The Board is responsible for preparing Financial Statements and a Statement of Service Performance in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand. The Financial Statements must fairly reflect the financial position of the Commission as at 30 June 2007 and the results of its operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date. The Statement of Service Performance must fairly reflect, for each class of outputs, the Commission’s standards of delivery performance achieved and revenue earned and expenses incurred, as compared with the forecast standards, revenue and expenses adopted at the start of the financial year. The Board’s responsibilities arise from the Crown Entities Act 2004 and Earthquake Commission Act 1993.
We are responsible for expressing an independent opinion on the Financial Statements and Statement of Service Performance and reporting that opinion to you. This responsibility arises from section 15 of the Public Audit Act 2001 and the Crown Entities Act 2004.
Independence
When carrying out the audit we followed the independence requirements of the Auditor-General, which incorporate the independence requirements of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand.
In addition to the audit, we carried out assurance related assignments in the area of quality assurance over the catastrophe response systems, which are compatible with those independent requirements.
Other than the audit, and these assignments, we have no relationship with or interests in the Commission.
D Menon
Audit New Zealand
On behalf of the Auditor-General
Wellington, New Zealand
Matters Relating to the Electronic Presentation of the Audited Financial statements
This audit report relates to the financial statements of the Earthquake Commission for the year ended 30 June 2007 included on the Earthquake Commission’s web site. The Earthquake Commission’s Board is responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Earthquake Commission’s web site. We have not been engaged to report on the integrity of the Earthquake Commission’s web site. We accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the financial statements since they were initially presented on the web site.
The audit report refers only to the financial statements named above. It does not provide an opinion on any other information which may have been hyperlinked to/from these financial statements. 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 related audit report dated 13 September 2007 to confirm the information included in the audited financial statements presented on this web site.
Legislation in New Zealand governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.