Background
The Proponent shall assist the auditor general as his Agent in opining on the financial statements of the Lakeland College in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. The Proponent may also be asked to assist the auditor general in reporting on other matters described in s.19 of the Auditor General Act, including non-compliance with law.
The Lakeland College is a board-governed post-secondary institutions that operates under the Post-secondary Learning Act of Alberta. The college offers agricultural training and certificate programs in business, environmental science, fire and emergency services, health and wellness, interior design, apprenticeship and pre-employment trades training, and university transfers.
The financial results of the Lakeland College are consolidated into the financial reporting of the Ministry of Advanced Education and the consolidated financial statements of the Government of Alberta. As a result, the annual audit of the Lakeland College must be completed by mid-May for inclusion in the Government of Alberta’s annual consolidated financial reporting issued in June.
The Lakeland College changed its year end from June 30 to March 31 effective the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. The Lakeland College will prepare nine-months financial statements for the period of July 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. Subsequently, the Lakeland College will prepare 12 months financial statements annually for the fiscal year ending March 31. Additional information about the Lakeland College’s operations and annual reports can be found on its website https://www.lakelandcollege.ca/
Key timelines
The Agent will need to be available to provide services as outlined in section 3.3 below as follows:
• For the nine months period ending March 31, 2023:
Interim audit work - between January and March 2023.
Year-end fieldwork must be completed by mid-May 2023.
Audit exit conference document must be prepared for discussion with management in mid-May 2023, with the audit committee meeting taking place at the end of May 2023.
Issue an Auditor’s Report to the Auditor General on the college’s Board of Governor’s approval of the financial statements. The Auditor General will subsequently issue his Auditor’s Report to the college along with any management letter comments typically by mid-June.
Examination of the college’s annual report for consistency with the audited financial statements – before September 30th.
• For the next three subsequent 12 months fiscal years ending March 31, 2024; March 31, 2025, and March 31, 2026:
Timelines are similar to the above other than the agent will be required to prepare and present an audit plan in September.
The ability to staff the audit to meet these key deadlines will be essential to maintaining a good working relationship with the Lakeland College and meeting the Auditor General’s expectation.
Work required
The Auditor General requires the assistance of the service provider – an Agent - to perform audit work to enable the Auditor General to issue an auditor’s report on the financial statements of Lakeland College.
Post-secondary institutions (PSIs) must prepare their financial reporting in accordance with Canadian public sector accounting standards. In addition, as the financial results of the college are included in the consolidated financial statements of the Government of Alberta, the Controller of the Government of Alberta issues a pro-forma financial statement template for all PSIs to follow. This template ensures consistency of reporting and disclosures by all PSIs and adherence to any specific Government of Alberta financial reporting requirements, such as salary and benefit disclosures. We strongly encourage proponents to examine the financial statements in the college’s annual report to understand the required reporting and disclosure.
Proponents shall familiarize themselves with the accounting policies in the financial statements of the Lakeland College and identify in their response any areas where they disagree with such accounting policies.
The Agent must complete the audit of the financial statements in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. The Agent’s audit opinion to the Auditor General of Alberta cannot be provided to or discussed with the auditee or in any way made public.
While the Auditor General permits the Proponent to follow the proponent’s own methodology and apply the proponent’s own interpretations of accounting and auditing standards for purposes of the Proponent’s own audit report, the Proponent must perform any and all additional work necessary - in accordance with the auditor general’s direction - to support the auditor’s report to be issued by the auditor general according to the auditor general’s interpretations of accounting and auditing standards.
The Agent will also be responsible for preparing and appropriately supporting any derivative communications (e.g., audit plan, exit document and management letter) arising from the audit in collaboration with the oversight leader with the form and content acceptable to the audit general. To support the auditor general in his role, an agent is expected to identify issues and, if necessary, develop observations and recommendations to the entity. Outstanding recommendations to the entity, if any, can be found in the annual Report on Post-secondary Institutions of the Auditor General of Alberta on the website at www.oag.ab.ca.
The Proponent may also be asked to assist the auditor general in reporting on other matters described in s.19 of the Auditor General Act, including non-compliance with law.
