Audit New Zealand letter
AUDIT REPORT
TO THE READERS OF LANDCARE RESEARCH NEW ZEALAND LIMITED AND GROUP’S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2006
The Auditor-General is the auditor of Landcare Research New Zealand (the company) and group. The Auditor General has appointed me, Julian Tan, using the staff and resources of Audit New Zealand, to carry out the audit of the financial statements of the company and group on his behalf, for the year ended 30 June 2006.
Unqualified opinion
In our opinion:
- The financial statements of the company and group (on pages 62 to 74 of printed report):
- comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
- give a true and fair view of:
the company and group’s financial position as at 30 June 2006;
and the results of operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date. - Based on our examination the company and group kept proper accounting records.
The audit was completed on 23 August 2006, 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 of Directors 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 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 our 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 Board of Directors;
- 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 our opinion above.
Responsibilities of the Board of Directors and the Auditor
The Board of Directors is responsible for preparing financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand. Those financial statements must give a true and fair view of the financial position of the company and group as at 30 June 2006. They must also give a true and fair view of the results of operations and cash flows for the year ended on that date. The Board of Directors’ responsibilities arise from the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, the Public Finance Act 1989 and the Financial Reporting Act 1993.
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, section 43(1) of the Public Finance Act 1989 and section 21 (1) of the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992.
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 an assurance assignment reviewing the profit share calculation in accordance with the company’s profit share scheme. This assignment is compatible with those independent requirements. Other than the audit, we have no relationship with or interests in the company or any of its subsidiaries.
Julian Tan
Audit New Zealand
On behalf of the Auditor-General
Christchurch, New Zealand