The Auditor-General said that her opinion on the 2022-23 Consolidated Fund financial statements was qualified owing to insufficient support for government asset retirement obligations.

Heather Thomas’s opinion was the year ended March 31, 2023. It was included in the financial statements delivered on March 15 to the House of Assembly, by David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance.

For that period, the Government was required to adopt Public Sector Accounting Standard PS 3280 Asset Retirement Obligations — legal obligations associated with the retirement of tangible capital assets.

This includes obligations associated with the retirement of a tangible capital assets resulting from its acquisitions, construction development or normal use.

Discussions were held with management on PS 3280 from August 2019 in preparation of the new standard. Ms Thomas said that in August 2023, management provided her office with its analysis on asset retirement obligations, but this analysis “lacked a number of required factors”.

“Consequently, I was unable to acquire sufficient appropriate audit evidence to determine whether adjustments might be necessary to tangible capital assets, asset retirement obligation liability, expenses, total non-financial assets, total liabilities, annual deficit and accumulated deficit for the year ended March 31, 2023,” Ms Thomas said.

Qualifications such as the one in the report represent omissions or errors considered so significant that they could “make a difference to readers understanding of the financial statements, and its also hinders financial statement users from engaging in informed debate about the government’s finances”.

Aside from this qualification, the financial statements of the Consolidated Fund present fairly the financial position of the Government, Ms Thomas said.

In the opinion, Ms Thomas included an “Emphasis of Matter” paragraph to highlight that the Consolidated Fund financial statements are not summary consolidated financial statements of the Government of Bermuda.

She explained that the Emphasis of Matter does not represent a qualification of her Auditor’s Opinion, but is used to report matters that in her professional opinion should be brought to the attention of Parliament and the public, as permitted by professional auditing standards and the Audit Act 1990.

The Auditor-General thanked the Ministry of Finance, the Department of the Accountant General and the Office of the Auditor-General team of professionals who are tasked with improving public sector financial management and accountability.