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Annual Report 2011-2012 – Financial Statements and Accompanying Notes

STATEMENT OF MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY INCLUDING INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

Responsibility for the integrity and objectivity of the accompanying financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2012, and all information contained in these statements rests with the management of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE). These financial statements have been prepared by management using the Government’s accounting policies, which are based on Canadian public sector accounting standards.

Management is responsible for the integrity and objectivity of the information in these financial statements. Some of the information in the financial statements is based on management’s best estimates and judgment, and gives due consideration to materiality. To fulfill its accounting and reporting responsibilities, management maintains a set of accounts that provides a centralized record of the NRTEE’s financial transactions. Financial information submitted in the preparation of the Public Accounts of Canada, and included in the NRTEE’s Departmental Performance Report, is consistent with these financial statements.

Management is also responsible for maintaining an effective system of internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) designed to provide reasonable assurance that financial information is reliable, that assets are safeguarded and that transactions are properly authorized and recorded in accordance with the Financial Administration Act and other applicable legislation, regulations, authorities and policies.

Management seeks to ensure the objectivity and integrity of data in its financial statements through careful selection, training, and development of qualified staff; through organizational arrangements that provide appropriate divisions of responsibility; through communication programs aimed at ensuring that regulations, policies, standards, and managerial authorities are understood throughout the NRTEE and through conducting an annual risk-based assessment of the effectiveness of the system of (ICFR).

The system of ICFR is designed to mitigate risks to a reasonable level based on an on-going process to identify key risks, to assess effectiveness of associated key controls, and to make any necessary adjustments.

The NRTEE is subject to periodic Core Control Audits performed by the Office of the Comptroller General and uses the results of such audits to comply with the Treasury Board Policy on Internal Control.

A Core Control Audit was performed in 2011-12 by the Office of the Comptroller General of Canada. The Audit Report and related Management Action Plan are posted on the NRTEE’s web site at http://nrt-trn.ca/corporate-reporting.

The Office of the Auditor General, the independent auditor for the Government of Canada, has expressed an opinion on the fair presentation of the financial statements of the NRTEE which does not include an audit opinion on the annual assessment of the effectiveness of the department’s internal controls over financial reporting.

Ottawa, Canada
July 11, 2012