Thank you, Chair.
We thank you for the opportunity to present our audit report on the 2008-09 financial statements of the Government of Canada.
As you mentioned, I'm accompanied by Nancy Cheng, assistant auditor general, who is responsible for the audit of these financial statements.
We are pleased to see that the committee is holding this hearing on the Public Accounts of Canada, a key accountability report of the government. The Comptroller General will be explaining to the committee the main points in the government's financial statements, and I will focus on the highlights of our audit opinion and observations.
My report on the 2008-2009 financial statements is included on page 2.4 of volume 1 of the Public Accounts.
The opinion provides Parliament with the assurance that the government's financial statements are presented fairly, in accordance with the government's stated accounting policies, which conform with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles. It can be referred to as a “clean” opinion. Our office has been able to issue such an opinion in each of the past 11 years.
We commend the government for producing financial statements that are presented fairly in conformity with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles. In our view, Canada continues to demonstrate leadership in financial reporting for national governments.
I would now like to discuss several issues that we have presented in our observations.
In view of the global economic downturn, the government announced a number of stimulus actions in its fiscal update and economic action plan. We observe that the majority of the stimulus activities and actions will take place in the 2009-10 fiscal year. Our audit next year will focus on the accounting of these transactions to ensure that they are properly presented in the government's financial statements.
As described in note 17 to the summary financial statements, most of the stimulus spending will take place in 2009-10 and 2010-11. For the 2008-09 audit, we reviewed the government's accounting and disclosure of initiatives it undertook during the year in response to the downturn. We concluded that the government's accounting and presentation are appropriate and that its commitments are adequately disclosed.
As well, I am pleased to note that volume 1, section 1, of the public accounts includes a discussion about the economic stimulus commitments made during the fiscal year, such as investment in infrastructure spending. In our observations, we again raised the question of accrual-based budgeting and appropriations by departments and agencies. As we have noted in the past, the government has yet to commit to a date for adopting accrual appropriations or explain why it would not be prudent to do so.
We are also pleased to report that we have issued an unqualified opinion on the Department of Justice's financial statements—the first audit opinion for departmental financial statements. In addition, during the fall of 2009, my office will undertake a review of the readiness of Industry Canada for a controls reliant approach to the audit of their financial statements.
More details and several other matters are discussed in our observations. They also include an update on issues raised in previous years. These observations can be found on pages 2.34 to 2.39 of volume 1 of the Public Accounts.
In conclusion, we would very much like to thank the staff of the Office of the Comptroller General and those in all of the departments involved. These accounts reflect many hours of painstaking work.
That concludes my opening statement. We would be pleased to answer any questions that committee members may have.
Thank you.