Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts of the Yukon Legislative Assembly

Report of the Auditor General of Canada on the 2022–23 Consolidated Financial Statements of the Government of Yukon

24 November 2023

Normand Lanthier, Chartered Professional AccountantCPA, Chartered AccountantCA
Acting Assistant Auditor General

Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to discuss our audit of the consolidated financial statements of the Government of Yukon for the 2022–23 fiscal year. I would like to respectfully acknowledge all Yukon First Nations and acknowledge that the committee meets on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. I am accompanied today by David Irving, who was the principal responsible for the audit.

As the Government of Yukon’s auditor, our primary responsibility is to audit the government’s consolidated financial statements and express an opinion on them. As legislative auditors, we also report on the government’s compliance with specified authorities.

The consolidated financial statements in the Yukon Public Accounts is a key government accountability document that can help legislative assembly members understand the results of the government’s financial transactions. Therefore, our audit supports the legislative assembly’s oversight of the government, promotes transparency, and encourages good financial management.

The committee’s review of the Yukon Public Accounts is an important step in ensuring accountability for how public funds are spent and how government finances are reported.

The government carries out its accounting and financial reporting responsibilities through its Office of the Comptroller in the Department of Finance. The Deputy Minister of Finance and the Comptroller will answer questions about the financial statements. We will focus on the results of our audit work.

First, I would like to draw the committee’s attention to an important and recurring issue that we have raised with management since 2021. This is the government’s lack of timeliness in preparing the consolidated financial statements and providing key supporting documents to the audit team.

In 2021–22, the financial statements were tabled on 27 October 2022. As the committee is aware, this year, the government did not meet the statutory deadline. This was mainly because of staff turnover and significant difficulties in implementing new accounting standards.

The timely availability of the Yukon Public Accounts is key to ensuring that your committee and the legislative assembly have the information they need to hold the government to account for its use of public funds. Overall, the government needs to ensure that sufficient resources, with the necessary skills, are available to improve its financial reporting controls so that it can meet the government’s statutory reporting deadline in the future.

Turning now to our independent auditor’s report, which you will find in Part 2 of the Yukon Public Accounts, pages 31 to 35. We issued an unmodified audit opinion on the consolidated financial statements. This means that the financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for the public sector and you can rely on the information provided. However, we issued a modified opinion on compliance with the specified authorities. This is because the government missed the statutory deadline for tabling the Yukon Public Accounts.

We also want to highlight for the committee that we will be issuing a management letter with recommendations for addressing weaknesses we observed related to the preparation of financial statements and notes.

I would like to thank the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Comptroller, their staff, and the staff of the departments and territorial corporations who were involved in preparing the government’s consolidated financial statements. We appreciate the effort, cooperation, and help of all involved.

Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer the committee’s questions. Thank you.