Background
The Proponent shall assist the auditor general as his Agent in opining on the financial statements of the Northwestern Polytechnic 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 Northwestern Polytechnic, previously known as Grande Prairie Regional College, is a board-governed post-secondary institutions that operates under the Post-secondary Learning Act of Alberta. The polytechnic offers diploma, certificate programs, apprenticeship and pre-employment trades training, adult high school equivalency completions and master’s credentials.
The financial results of the Northwestern Polytechnic 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 Northwestern Polytechnic must be completed by mid-May for inclusion in the Government of Alberta’s annual financial reporting issued in June.
The Northwestern Polytechnic changed its year end from June 30 to March 31 effective the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. The Northwestern Polytechnic will prepare nine-months consolidated financial statements for the period of July 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. Subsequently, the Northwestern Polytechnic will prepare 12 months consolidated financial statements annually for the fiscal year ending March 31. Entities consolidated in the accounts of the polytechnic may require separate audit opinions. The Auditor General is not the statutory auditor of these entities, and the polytechnic appoints any auditor required. As a result, any separate audit opinions on these entities are not included in the scope of the services of this RFP.
Additional information about the Northwestern Polytechnic’s operations and annual reports can be found on its website https://www.nwpolytech.ca/about/
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 polytechnic’s Board of Governor’s approval of the consolidated financial statements. The Auditor General will subsequently issue his Auditor’s Report to the polytechnic along with any management letter comments typically by mid-June.
Examination of the polytechnic’s annual report for consistency with the audited consolidated 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 Northwestern Polytechnic 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 consolidated financial statements of Northwestern Polytechnic.
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 polytechnic 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 consolidated financial statements in the polytechnic’s annual report to understand the required reporting and disclosure.
