❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice regarding the quality and timeliness of financial reporting by agencies under the Regional Development portfolio, specifically focusing on the Pilbara Development Commission (PDC) and actions taken to improve their financial statements for audit.
AnsweredQoN 3295Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the WA Auditor General Audit Results Report Annual 2009-10 Assurance Audits Report 10 Nov 2010, in section five ‘Quality and Timeliness of Financial Reporting’ on page 30 where it refers to too many Agencies providing documents of unsatisfactory quality, causing audit costs to rise, often significantly, which can delay the issuing of the opinion and the tabling of the annual report, and I ask -
(1) What are the Agencies under the Minister’s portfolio that the audit is referring to?
(2) Have any Annual Reports of these agencies been delayed because of the unsatisfactory quality of their documents for audit?
(3) What action has been taken to ensure these Agencies are able to improve their financial statements for audit?
(4) Can the Minister give an assurance that these Agencies will implement better quality control processes to improve the material they submit in time for the next audit?
(5) If no to (4), why not?
(1) What are the Agencies under the Minister’s portfolio that the audit is referring to?
(2) Have any Annual Reports of these agencies been delayed because of the unsatisfactory quality of their documents for audit?
(3) What action has been taken to ensure these Agencies are able to improve their financial statements for audit?
(4) Can the Minister give an assurance that these Agencies will implement better quality control processes to improve the material they submit in time for the next audit?
(5) If no to (4), why not?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
21 March 2011
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Regional Development
Response time
34 days
(1) The Pilbara Development Commission (PDC).
(2) No. The PDC's Annual Report was delayed due to the time it took to finalise the audit process with the auditors. The specific causes of this were:
·The Commission had been qualified the previous year and the auditors, in late August, insisted that in order to be sufficiently confident with the data to remove the qualification, a manual/excel worksheet be completed on all cash transactions with the main purpose being to separate and ultimately prove the movement in grant receipts and payments.
·The Commission was without a full time Chief Financial Officer for the first eight months of the financial year of 2009/2010 in Port Hedland and had to rely on the services of a Public Sector accountant working out of Perth and visiting Port Hedland.
·The 2009/2010 external auditors worked closely with the PDC A/ Chief Financial Officer ensuring that all financial transactions of a reasonable material value were closely scrutinised and the grant cash movement examination was taken back into the 2008/2009 year to ensure accuracy.
(3) The position of the Chief Financial Officer has been stabilised. PDC will be conducting a dry run of the 2010/2011 annual report at the end of March to ensure that non-financial material for the report is ready and that a financial set of accounts be drawn up in accordance with the 2010/2011 requirements with all balance sheet reconciliations signed off.
(4) The Board and executive of the PDC have scheduled an interim audit and an internal audit prior to the external audit in order to be fully and appropriately prepared in a timely manner for the Office of Auditor General.
In addition, the PDC is establishing an Audit and Risk Committee to ensure that risk and finance policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and appropriately implemented. The committee will consist of the PDC executive and Board members.
(5) Not applicable.
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(2) No. The PDC's Annual Report was delayed due to the time it took to finalise the audit process with the auditors. The specific causes of this were:
·The Commission had been qualified the previous year and the auditors, in late August, insisted that in order to be sufficiently confident with the data to remove the qualification, a manual/excel worksheet be completed on all cash transactions with the main purpose being to separate and ultimately prove the movement in grant receipts and payments.
·The Commission was without a full time Chief Financial Officer for the first eight months of the financial year of 2009/2010 in Port Hedland and had to rely on the services of a Public Sector accountant working out of Perth and visiting Port Hedland.
·The 2009/2010 external auditors worked closely with the PDC A/ Chief Financial Officer ensuring that all financial transactions of a reasonable material value were closely scrutinised and the grant cash movement examination was taken back into the 2008/2009 year to ensure accuracy.
(3) The position of the Chief Financial Officer has been stabilised. PDC will be conducting a dry run of the 2010/2011 annual report at the end of March to ensure that non-financial material for the report is ready and that a financial set of accounts be drawn up in accordance with the 2010/2011 requirements with all balance sheet reconciliations signed off.
(4) The Board and executive of the PDC have scheduled an interim audit and an internal audit prior to the external audit in order to be fully and appropriately prepared in a timely manner for the Office of Auditor General.
In addition, the PDC is establishing an Audit and Risk Committee to ensure that risk and finance policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and appropriately implemented. The committee will consist of the PDC executive and Board members.
(5) Not applicable.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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