Report of the Ministry for the Environment

• Overview of the 2008/09 Year
• Statement of Service Performance for the Year Ended 30 June 2009
• Financial Statements for the Ministry for the Environment
  • Notes to the Financial Statements
• Non-Departmental Statements and Schedules for the Year Ended 30 June 2009
  • Notes to the Non-Departmental Financial Statements
  • Audit Report
• Contact information
  • Advisory Bodies 2008/09
  • Organisational Chart

Audit Report

Audit Report
To the readers of the Ministry for the Environment’s
financial statements
for the year ended 30 June 2009

The Auditor-General is the auditor of the Ministry for the Environment (the Ministry). The Auditor-General has appointed me, Robert Manktelow, using the staff and resources of Audit New Zealand, to carry out the audit of the financial statements and performance information of the Ministry for the year ended 30 June 2009.

Unqualified Opinion

In our opinion:

• The financial statements of the Ministry comprising the Statement of Financial Performance, Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Changes in Taxpayers’ Funds, Statement of Cash Flows, Statement of Commitments, Statement of Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets, Statement of Unappropriated Expenditure, Statement of Departmental Expenses and Capital Expenditure Against Appropriations, Notes 1 to 20 to the Financial Statements, Statement of Non-Departmental Expenditure and Capital Expenditure Against Appropriations, Statement of Non-Departmental Unappropriated Expenditure and Capital Expenditure, Schedule of Non-Departmental Income, Schedule of Non-Departmental Capital Receipts, Schedule of Non-Departmental Expenses, Schedule of Non-Departmental Assets, Schedule of Non-Departmental Liabilities, Statement of Non-Departmental Commitments, Statement of Non-Departmental Contingencies, Notes 1 to 7 to the Non-Departmental schedules
  • comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
  • fairly reflect:
    • the Ministry’s financial position as at 30 June 2009;
    • the results of its operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date; and
    • its service performance achievements measured against the performance targets adopted for the year ended on that date.
• The performance information of the Ministry in the Statement of Service Performance fairly reflects the achievements measured against the performance targets adopted for the year ended 30 June 2009.
• Based on our examination the Ministry kept proper accounting records.

The audit was completed on 30 September 2009, 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 Chief Executive 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 our audit to obtain all the information and explanations we considered necessary in order to obtain reasonable assurance that the financial statements and performance information 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 performance information.  If we had found material misstatements that were not corrected, we would have referred to them in the opinion.

Our audit involved performing procedures to test the information presented in the financial statements and performance information. 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 Chief Executive;
• 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 and performance information.

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

Responsibilities of the Chief Executive and the Auditor

The Chief Executive is responsible for preparing the financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand. The Chief Executive is also responsible for preparing performance information. Those financial statements and performance information must fairly reflect the financial position of the Ministry as at 30 June 2009. They must also fairly reflect the results of its operations and cash flows and service performance achievements for the year ended on that date. This responsibility is specified in sections 45A and 45B of the Public Finance Act 1989.

We are responsible for expressing an independent opinion on the financial statements and performance information and reporting that opinion to you. This responsibility is specified in section 15 of the Public Audit Act 2001 and section 45D (2) of the Public Finance Act 1989.

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.

Other than the audit, we have no relationship with or interests in the Ministry.

Robert Manktelow
Audit New Zealand
On behalf of the Auditor-General
Wellington, New Zealand

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