Publications & Reports
Annual Reports
Annual Report 2005
Ministry Performance for the year ended 30 June 2005
Audit Report
Financial Overview
Financial Overview page 2
Output Class Service Performance

audit report

TO THE READERS OF THE MINISTRY OF FISHERIES’
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED
30 JUNE 2005

The Auditor-General is the auditor of the Ministry of Fisheries  (the Ministry). The Auditor-General has appointed me,  Grant J Taylor, using the staff and resources of Ernst &  Young, to carry out the audit of the financial statements of  the Ministry, on his behalf, for the year ended 30 June 2005.

UNQUALIFIED OPINION

In our opinion, the financial statements of the Ministry on pages 32 to 80:

  • comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
  • fairly reflect: – the Ministry’s financial position as at 30 June 2005, the results of its operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date, its service performance achievements measured against the performance targets adopted for the year ended on that date, and the assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, contingencies, commitments and trust monies managed by the Ministry on behalf of the Crown for the year ended 30 June 2005.

    The audit was completed on 30 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 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 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 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.


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 the opinion above.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND THE AUDITOR

The Chief Executive is responsible for preparing financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand. Those financial statements must fairly reflect the financial position of the Ministry as at 30 June 2005. They must also fairly reflect the results of its operations and cash flows and service performance achievements for the year ended on that date. In addition, they must fairly reflect the assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, contingencies, commitments and trust monies managed by the Ministry on behalf of the Crown for the year ended 30 June 2005. The Chief Executive’s responsibilities 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 38(1) 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.

In addition to the audit we have carried out a review of the process used to award research contracts for the Ministry. Other than the audit and these assignments, we have no relationship with or interests in the Ministry.

G J Taylor, Ernst & Young.
G J Taylor Ernst & Young On behalf of the Auditor-General Wellington, New Zealand

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Updated : 16 November 2007