Accounting and Auditing Policy

• What do we do?
• Team structure
• Auditor appointments
• Accounting policy
• Auditing policy
• Quality assurance
• Schools

What do we do?

The Accounting and Auditing Policy team are the office's technical experts. They provide auditing advice and support and make sure that professional standards are followed. They are responsible for:

• appointing auditors and monitoring fees charged for audits of public entities
• developing auditing policies and accounting policies
• setting and interpreting standards for auditing and accounting
• providing technical advice and assistance
• quality assurance.

The team is involved in much of the organisation's work (for example, annual audits, performance audits, inquiries, good practice guides, B.29 reports to Parliament, LTP audits, and research and development projects).

Team structure

Auditor appointments

Murray Powell manages the processes for appointment contracts of all appointed auditors:

• maintaining information on about 4000 entities, including about 2,500 schools
• maintaining information on auditors (about 160 appointed auditors, including about 60 schools-only auditors)
• setting up audit arrangements for new entities
• reappointing auditors
• arranging reallocations of audits
• monitoring the 6-year rule (for reasons of independence, auditors of certain entities cannot audit those entities for more than 6 years).

His role also involves monitoring the audit fees charged to all entities, and where necessary moderating the resolution of audit fee proposals and/or disputes between appointed auditors and entities.

Accounting policy

Todd Beardsworth is responsible for giving appointed auditors direction and guidance on accounting issues:

• ensuring entities comply with generally accepted accounting practice (gaap)
• dealing with the more difficult issues where gaap is less clear
• co-ordinating the 'audit briefs' that tell auditors what to focus on each financial year
• producing our newsletter for auditors (the Watchdog).

Auditing policy

Roy Glass is the ‘gatekeeper' of the Auditor-General's auditing standards. His work is based on the New Zealand auditing standards, and focuses on:

• the public sector aspects of auditing policy
• maintaining the manual we provide to auditors
• independence issues.

Roy is also involved in standard-setting arrangements in New Zealand and internationally.

Quality assurance

Nick Johnston is responsible for quality assurance over the various products produced by the organisation, including annual audits performed by appointed auditors:

• reviewing appointed auditors (reviewing the work of at least 45 auditors each year)
• reporting common findings to the appointed auditors
• identifying training issues
• making sure the results of the reviews feed into the auditor appointment process.

The quality assurance role aligns with quality control standards.

Schools

Graham Potter is responsible for audits within the schools sector:

• ongoing liaison with schools' auditors, including training
• developing the schools' audit brief (the description of what school auditors must focus on during the audit)
• resolving technical issues that arise from school audits
• managing relationships with stakeholders (for example, the Ministry of Education, and the Schools Trustees' Association).

Page last updated: 1 August 2011