Catholic Division selected to have audit assessed by provincial auditor

Daily Herald File Photo

Each year school divisions in the province are chosen to have their audits randomly selected to be assessed by the provincial auditor’s office. This year, for the first time since 2014, the Prince Albert Catholic School Division was among the divisions chosen.

 “As a matter of process our school division annually goes through an audit through our audit firm which is Deloitte. And additionally this year the provincial auditor has added randomly selected school divisions to audits for different elements in the educational sector and so our school division will participate in an audit as well,” director of education Lorel Trumier said.

At their regular meeting on Monday, September 14 the board of education had a phone conference with both Erica Bailey of Deloitte Prince Albert and Nicole Dressler of the Provincial Auditor to update on the process. Bailey broke down the audit service plan for the division. This included impacts on the audit because of the COVID-19 pandemic, identification of audit risks, an explanation of communication requirements, a timeline, revised audit standards and a confirmation of change letter.

The Deloitte audit will serve as the basis for the province to look at procedures, protocols and other parts of the audit. The audit timeline was developed after consultation with administration and meets all reporting requirements of the Ministry of Education and Office of the Provincial Auditor.

“Then they will do some recommendations for some work around any elements that they would like us to improve,” Trumier explained.

The audit will be for the fiscal year of 2019-2020, which ended on August 31.

“We look forward to seeing what the provincial auditor does with our processes because we always know that we can make them stronger and make them better as we go through these processes,” Trumier said.

The reporting to the provincial auditor will focus on the adequacy of the system of internal controls in the division, the compliance with legislative authorities and any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Legislative Assembly.

Impacts on the audit by the pandemic include a focus on effects, considering alternative methods to obtain audit evidence and a reassessment of risks related to financial reporting.

Other divisions randomly selected included the North East School Division (NESD), Prairie Spirit School Division, Regina School Division, Saskatoon School Division, St. Paul’s Roman Catholic School Division, Northern Lights School Division, Regina Catholic School Division and Southeast Cornerstone School Division.

The board of education accepted the 2020 audit service plan and the information of the provincial auditor as presented.

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