Accounts, financial statements and audit
15.—(1) The Minister is responsible for the administration of the Fund.
(2) The Minister must cause to be kept proper accounts and records of all transactions and affairs relating to the Fund and must do all things necessary to ensure that payments out of the Fund are correctly made and properly authorised and that adequate control is maintained over the assets and receipts of the Fund.
(3) The Minister must, as soon as practicable after the close of each financial year, cause to be prepared and submitted financial statements in respect of that year to the auditor mentioned in section 16.
(4) The financial year of the Fund begins on 1 April of each year and ends on 31 March of the succeeding year.
Appointment, powers and duties of auditor
16.—(1) The accounts and annual financial statements of the Fund must be audited by the Auditor‑General or any other auditor that may be appointed annually by the Minister in consultation with the Auditor‑General.
(2) A person is not qualified for appointment as an auditor under subsection (1) unless that person is a public accountant within the meaning of the Accountants Act 2004.[5/2004]
(3) The auditor’s remuneration is to be charged upon the Fund.
(4) The auditor or any person authorised by the auditor is entitled at all reasonable times to full and free access to all accounting and other records relating, directly or indirectly, to the financial transactions of the Fund and may make copies of, or extracts from, any such accounting and other records.
(5) The auditor or any person authorised by the auditor may require any person to provide the auditor or person authorised by the auditor any information in that person’s possession or to which that person has access which the auditor considers necessary for the purposes of the auditor’s functions under this Act.
(6) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any requirement of the auditor under subsection (5) or who otherwise hinders, obstructs or delays the auditor in the performance of the auditor’s duties or the exercise of the auditor’s powers shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.
(7) The auditor must in the auditor’s report state —(a)
whether the financial statements show fairly the financial transactions and the state of affairs of the Fund;
(b)
whether proper accounting and other records have been kept, including records of all assets of the Fund;
(c)
whether receipts, expenditure, and investment of moneys and the acquisition and disposal of assets on account of the Fund during the financial year were in accordance with the provisions of this Act; and
(d)
any other matters arising from the audit that the auditor considers necessary.
(8) The auditor must —(a)
as soon as practicable, after the accounts have been submitted for audit, send a report of the audit to the Minister; and
(b)
submit such periodical and special reports to the Minister as may appear to the auditor to be necessary or as the Minister may require.
(9) Where the Auditor‑General is not the auditor of the Fund, a copy of the audited financial statements and any report made by the auditor must be forwarded to the Auditor‑General when they are submitted to the Minister.
(10) The Minister must, as soon as practicable, cause a copy of the audited financial statements and the auditor’s report to be presented to Parliament.
Periodic examination of Fund
17.—(1) For successive periods of any duration, not exceeding 5 years, determined by the Minister in each case, an examination of the Fund must be made by a person appointed by the Minister with a view to determining the state of the Fund having regard to its prospective liabilities and the probable annual provisions required by the Fund to meet those liabilities.
(2) Despite subsection (1), where an amendment is made to the CONNECT Plan, and the amendment affects the cost of benefits payable under the CONNECT Plan or creates an initial unfunded liability, the Minister may, for the purposes of section 11(1)(a), appoint a person to make an examination and report on the state of the Fund.
(3) The person appointed under subsection (1) or (2) must, at the end of the person’s examination, report to the Minister for Finance and the Minister the state of the Fund having regard to its prospective liabilities and the probable annual provisions required by the Fund to meet those liabilities.
(4) The Minister must cause a copy of every such report to be presented to Parliament forthwith after receiving it.
Rules for administration of Fund
18. The Minister may make rules for the proper control and management of the Fund.
