Summary: what we found in our audits
Performance reporting
• Financial statements Unqualified
opinion for government and 20 ministries
Our auditor’s reports on the Government of Alberta’s consolidated financial statements, and on all 20 ministry financial statements are unqualified.
• Performance measures One exception—
Measuring Up;
Exceptions in 4 ministries
We found one exception when we applied specified auditing procedures to the performance measures in Measuring Up—see page 186. We found 4 exceptions in 4 of 20 ministries when we applied specified auditing
procedures to ministry performance information in the 2006–2007 ministry annual reports—see page 186.
Overview
This section highlights the results of our examination of the Government of Alberta Annual Report for the year ended March 31, 2007. The Annual Report has two parts—Consolidated Financial Statements and Measuring Up.
Consolidated Financial Statements provides an overall accounting of the government’s revenue and spending, and assets and liabilities. Measuring Up reports on the progress that the government has made towards achieving its goals.
Government business plan, fiscal plan and annual report
The Government of Alberta Strategic Business Plan in Budget 2006 includes Alberta’s vision, 20 year strategic plan, and a three-year government business plan. The Business Plan identifies the goals, key strategies, links to ministry business plans, costs, and performance measures and targets. It identifies 14 goals, with strategies and measures for each goal. The government’s Fiscal Plan outlines the consolidated budget to achieve the desired results in the business plan. The Government of Alberta Annual Report shows the results achieved against the measures and targets in the business plans.
Volume 1—Audits and recommendations Government of Alberta and Ministry Annual Reports
20 ministries contribute to government results
The Alberta government has 20 ministries. Ministers and deputy ministers are responsible for managing their ministries and meeting government goals.
Ministry business plans and annual reports provide information on the ministry’s contribution to government results.
2006–2007
financial results In 2006–2007, the Government of Alberta received approximately $38.5 billion in revenue and spent approximately $29.5 billion. The following summarizes the significant revenues and expenses:
(millions of dollars) Revenues
Income and other taxes $ 14,696
Non-renewable resource revenue 12,260
Transfers from Government of Canada 3,077
Net investment income 3,013
Other 5,511
38,557
Expenses
Health 10,878
Education 7,976
Social services 2,931
Other 7,880
29,665 Excess of revenues over expenses for the year $ 8,892
Government
website For more information on the government and its programs, see its website at www.gov.ab.ca.
Scope: what we did in our audits
We audited the government’s consolidated financial statements and all ministry financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2007.
We applied specified auditing procedures to the government’s performance measures reported in the Measuring Up section of the government’s annual report and in all ministry annual reports.
Volume 1—Audits and recommendations Government of Alberta and Ministry Annual Reports
Our audit findings and recommendations
1. Performance reporting 1.1 Financial statements
Unqualified opinion on consolidated financial statements
We issued an unqualified auditor’s report on the government’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2007.
These consolidated financial statements include the following entities of the government:
• departments—20
• regulated funds—14
• provincial agencies—35
• commercial enterprises—4
• commercial Crown-controlled corporation—1
• non-commercial Crown-controlled corporations—2
• Offices of the Legislative Assembly—6
• school jurisdictions—75
• universities—4
• colleges—14
• technical institutes and the Banff Centre—3
• regional health authorities and other health boards—12 This list does not include the subsidiaries of provincial agencies, commercial enterprises, and Crown-controlled corporations.
Crown-controlled SUCH sector organizations
The consolidated financial statements include the financial results of Crown-controlled SUCH sector organizations using the modified equity basis of accounting. SUCH is an acronym for schools, universities,
colleges and hospitals, but the term is used to describe a much broader list of organizations, including school boards, technical institutes, regional health authorities, and other health boards.
Unqualified opinions on financial statements
Our auditor’s reports on the financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2007 of all 20 ministries are unqualified. For the first time, the ministries of Advanced Education and Technology, Education, and Health and Wellness included the financial results of the Crown-controlled SUCH sector organizations in their 2006–2007 ministry consolidated financial statements using the modified equity method of accounting.
The modified equity method of consolidation is allowed as a transition to line-by-line consolidation, which will be required for the year ending March 31, 2009.
Volume 1—Audits and recommendations Government of Alberta and Ministry Annual Reports
Net assets would have increased by
$10.4 billion
Under line-by-line consolidation, the government’s capital assets would have been fully consolidated so net assets at March 31, 2007 would have increased by approximately $10.4 billion.
Improved
readability We commend the Ministry of Treasury Board’s management for its efforts in improving the readability of the consolidated financial statements. We believe this should be an ongoing effort for the Ministry. All financial statements issued for entities within the government reporting entity should be relevant and readable, and still comply with the disclosure requirements of public sector accounting standards.
1.2 Performance measures
One exception in our report on Measuring Up
We found one exception when we applied specified auditing procedures to the performance measures in Measuring Up. There was no data reported for the measure Support for Albertans with Severe Disabilities – Number of working days between completed application and decision for AISH
applicants. The government developed and implemented an electronic tracking system in April 2006 to assist in gathering information for this measure, but the data won’t be complete until next year. As a result, we could not complete our specified auditing procedures for this measure.
Exceptions in our reports for 4 ministries
We found no exceptions when we completed specified auditing procedures on the performance information in the 2006–2007 ministry annual reports for 17 ministries. However, our reports for 4 ministries (Agriculture and Food, Children’s Services, Seniors and Community Supports and
Sustainable Resource Development) noted exceptions. These exceptions are described in the sections for those ministries in this Annual Report.