Annual Report 30 June 2011

Independent Auditor's Report

To the readers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade financial statements, and non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities

For the year ended 30 June 2012

The Auditor General is the auditor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (the Ministry). The Auditor General has appointed me, Karen Young, using the staff and resources of Audit New Zealand, to carry out the audit of the financial statements, the non financial performance information and the schedules of non departmental activities of the Ministry on her behalf.

We have audited:

• the financial statements of the Ministry comprising the statement of financial position, statement of commitments, statement of contingent liabilities and contingent assets as at 30 June 2012, the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in taxpayers' funds, statement of departmental expenditure and capital expenditure against appropriations, statement of departmental unappropriated expenditure and capital expenditure, statement of cash flows and statement of trust monies for the year ended on that date and the notes to the financial statements that include accounting policies and other explanatory information;
• the non financial performance information of the Ministry comprising the statement of service performance and the report about outcomes; and
• the schedules of non departmental activities of the Ministry comprising the schedule of non-departmental assets, schedule of non-departmental liabilities, schedule of non-departmental contingent liabilities and contingent assets as at 30 June 2012, the schedule of non-departmental expenditure, statement of non-departmental expenditure and capital expenditure against appropriations, statement of non-departmental unappropriated expenditure and capital expenditure and schedule of non-departmental revenue, for the year ended on that date and the notes to the schedules that include accounting policies and other explanatory information.

Opinion

In our opinion:

• the financial statements of the Ministry comprising the statement of financial position, statement of commitments, statement of contingent liabilities and contingent assets as at 30 June 2012, the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in taxpayers' funds, statement of departmental expenditure and capital expenditure against appropriations, statement of departmental unappropriated expenditure and capital expenditure, statement of cash flows and statement of trust monies for the year ended on that date and the notes to the financial statements that include accounting policies and other explanatory information:
  • comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
  • fairly reflect the Ministry’s:
  • financial position as at 30 June 2012;
  • financial performance and cash flows for the year ended on that date;
  • expenses and capital expenditure incurred against each appropriation administered by the Ministry and each class of outputs included in each output expense appropriation for the year ended 30 June 2012; and
  • unappropriated expenses and capital expenditure for the year ended 30 June 2012.
• • the non financial performance information of the Ministry comprising the statement of service performance and the report about outcomes:
  • complies with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
  • fairly reflects the Ministry’s service performance and outcomes for the year ended 30 June 2012, including for each class of outputs:
    • its service performance compared with the forecasts in the statement of forecast service performance at the start of the financial year; and
    • its actual revenue and output expenses compared with the forecasts in the statement of forecast service performance at the start of the financial year.
• the schedules of non departmental activities of the Ministry comprising the schedule of non-departmental assets, schedule of non-departmental liabilities, schedule of non-departmental contingent liabilities and contingent assets as at 30 June 2012, the schedule of non-departmental expenditure, statement of non-departmental expenditure and capital expenditure against appropriations, statement of non-departmental unappropriated expenditure and capital expenditure and schedule of non-departmental revenue, for the year ended on that date and the notes to the schedules that include accounting policies and other explanatory information:
  • comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
  • fairly reflect:
    • the assets, liabilities, contingencies, commitments and trust monies as at 30 June 2012 managed by the Ministry on behalf of the Crown; and
    • the revenues, expenses, expenditure and capital expenditure against appropriations and unappropriated expenditure and capital expenditure for the year ended on that date managed by the Ministry on behalf of the Crown.

Our audit was completed on 28 September 2012. This 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 Chief Executive and our responsibilities, and we explain our independence.

Basis of opinion

We carried out our audit in accordance with the Auditor‑General’s Auditing Standards, which incorporate the International Standards on Auditing (New Zealand). Those standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and carry out our audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements, the non‑financial performance information and the schedules of non‑departmental activities are free from material misstatement.

Material misstatements are differences or omissions of amounts and disclosures that would affect a reader’s overall understanding of the financial statements, the non‑financial performance information and the schedules of non‑departmental activities. If we had found material misstatements that were not corrected, we would have referred to them in our opinion.

An audit involves carrying out procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, the non‑financial performance information and the schedules of non‑departmental activities. The procedures selected depend on our judgement, including our assessment of risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, the non‑financial performance information and the schedules of non‑departmental activities, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, we consider internal control relevant to the Ministry’s preparation of the financial statements, the non‑financial performance information and the schedules of non‑departmental activities that fairly reflect the matters to which they relate. We consider internal control in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Ministry’s internal control.

An audit also involves evaluating:

• the appropriateness of accounting policies used and whether they have been consistently applied;
• the reasonableness of the significant accounting estimates and judgements made by the Chief Executive;
• the appropriateness of the reported non-financial performance information within the Ministry’s framework for reporting performance;
• the adequacy of all disclosures in the financial statements, the non-financial performance information and the schedules of non-departmental activities; and
• the overall presentation of the financial statements, the non-financial performance information and the schedules of non-departmental activities.

We did not examine every transaction, nor do we guarantee complete accuracy of the financial statements, the non-financial performance information and the schedules of non-departmental activities. We have obtained all the information and explanations we have required and we believe we have obtained sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

Responsibilities of the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive is responsible for preparing:

• financial statements and non-financial performance information that:
  • comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand;
  • fairly reflect the Ministry’s financial position, financial performance, cash flows, expenses and capital expenditure incurred against each appropriation and its unappropriated expenses and capital expenditure; and
  • fairly reflect its service performance and outcomes; and
• schedules of non-departmental activities, in accordance with the Treasury Instructions 2011 that:
  • comply with generally accepted accounting practice in New Zealand; and
  • fairly reflect those activities managed by the Ministry on behalf of the Crown.

The Chief Executive is also responsible for such internal control as is determined is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements, non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

The Chief Executive’s responsibilities arise from the Public Finance Act 1989.

Responsibilities of the Auditor

We are responsible for expressing an independent opinion on the financial statements, the non-financial performance information and the schedules of non-departmental activities and reporting that opinion to you based on our audit. Our responsibility arises from section 15 of the Public Audit Act 2001 and 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 New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants.

During the year we provided independent assurance over a tender process. Other than this and the audit, we have no relationship with or interests in the Ministry.

Karen Young
Audit New Zealand
On behalf of the Auditor General
Wellington, New Zealand

Matters relating to the electronic presentation of the audited financial statements, non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities

This audit report relates to the financial statements, non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the year ended 30 June 2012 included on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s website. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Chief Executive is responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s website. We have not been engaged to report on the integrity of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s website. We accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the financial statements, non-financial performance information and the schedules of non-departmental activities since they were initially presented on the website. 

The audit report refers only to the financial statements, non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities named above. It does not provide an opinion on any other information which may have been hyperlinked to or from the financial statements, non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities. If readers of this report are concerned with the inherent risks arising from electronic data communication they should refer to the published hard copy of the audited financial statements, non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities as well as the related audit report dated 28 September 2012 to confirm the information included in the audited financial statements, non-financial performance information and schedules of non-departmental activities presented on this website.

Legislation in New Zealand governing the preparation and dissemination of financial information may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

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