Auditor General highlights opportunities for improvements in the preparation of government’s consolidated financial statements

Ottawa, 17 December 2024—Today, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released its Commentary on the 2023–2024 Financial Audits. This is not an audit report, but it highlights observations and themes from the OAG’s financial audits of federal organizations, including the government’s consolidated financial statements, which are contained in the Public Accounts of Canada.

The Commentary on the 2023–2024 Financial Audits highlights the results of the financial audits conducted in 69 federal organizations for fiscal years ended between July 2023 and April 2024. Observations of the Auditor General on the Government of Canada’s consolidated financial statements are significant enough to be raised to parliamentarians and should be viewed as opportunities for the government to improve financial practices and controls. The OAG provided the Government of Canada with a clean audit opinion on its 2023–24 consolidated financial statements. This opinion provides credibility to the government’s financial reporting.

This year’s Commentary notes that the finalization of the federal government’s consolidated financial statements was delayed. Last year, the Public Accounts were tabled on 24 October.

The Commentary identified that improvements were needed in the financial reporting process for the consolidated financial statements. The Commentary outlines, for example, inconsistencies in how departments accounted for certain items and determined important estimates. More oversight is needed by the Office of the Comptroller General over the accuracy and accounting of significant transactions and new programs across the government. This is important to enable completion of the consolidated financial statements on a timely basis.

The Commentary also includes information about COVID‑19 benefit overpayments, including the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan program. It also highlights continued observations on pay administration, information technology general controls, asset retirement obligations and National Defense inventory.