Our contribution to the profession and standards
The ANAO continues to support the accounting and auditing professions by speaking at conferences and seminars, commenting on draft standards, and serving on committees and the professional bodies themselves. The ANAO is also a supporter of the activities and initiatives of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI).
My staff continues to support the professions. The Deputy Auditor-General, Steve Chapman, has just completed his term as CPA Australia’s ACT Divisional President, and he continues to serve on the divisional council. Group Executive Director, Michael Watson is the vice chairman of the ACT Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia. In addition, ANAO staff serve on various committees of the two professional bodies.
I continue to be a member of the Australian Auditing & Assurance Standards Board and the International Auditing & Assurance Standards Board. This work contributes to the development of quality auditing standards for application in both the public and private sectors in Australia. Importantly, it also allows the ANAO to be a acquainted with the leading issues affecting auditing standards so as to ensure our audit coverage is well informed and provides a high standard of service and assurance to all our clients.
International accounting standards
In the last few years in particular, Australian Government public sector entities have dealt with a period of significant change in financial reporting requirements, primarily as a result of the adoption in Australia of international financial reporting requirements. The ANAO has worked closely with the Department of Finance and Administration to highlight, at an early stage, issues that need close examination to ease the introduction of the new requirements. In the main, entities have managed the introduction of these new requirements well.
As a result of a decision made by the International Accounting Standards Board in mid-2006 that it would not require the application of new international financial reporting standards under development, or major amendments to existing standards, before 1 January 2009, higher priority has been given by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) to a range of public sector specific issues. These include a review of public sector not-for-profit entity issues arising from the implementation of Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards.
Significant progress has been made in relation to the harmonisation of Australian Accounting Standards with the requirements of Government Finance Statistics. The AASB intends to complement the recently released standard for harmonised reporting of the General Government Sector (GGS) with an equivalent standard for whole-of-government, with both standards to be first applied for the 2008–09 financial year.
The ANAO contributes actively on proposals for new auditing standards that affect the public sector in Australia.