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2002 December Report of the Auditor General of Canada

December 2002 Report—Chapter 6

Appendix—Jurisdictions' verification of health indicators reports

The governments of Canada, the territories and the provinces have adopted different approaches to meet the September 2000 First Ministers Meeting Communiqué on Health requirement in respect of "third party verification" for their health reports. Some have engaged their auditor to provide audit assurance on their health reports. Others have asked for specified auditing procedures to be applied. The paragraphs below outline the major differences between an audit assurance engagement and a specified auditing procedures engagement. For a complete comparison, please refer to the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Handbook section 5025 for audit assurance engagements and section 9100 for specified auditing procedure engagements. For the reasons described in the following paragraphs, an audit under CICA Handbook section 5025 is the advisable approach.

In an audit assurance engagement, the auditor's responsibility is to offer assurance to users, in the form of an audit opinion, on a report prepared by management. The auditor determines the nature, extent, timing, appropriateness, and sufficiency of audit procedures which, in the auditor's judgment, are necessary to provide a high level of assurance concerning the subject matter or the performance indicators in the health care report in the present context.

In a specified auditing procedure engagement, the auditor's responsibility is to report the results of applying auditing procedures specified by management. As the extent of specified auditing procedures may vary from engagement to engagement, such engagements are difficult to compare. And since the extent of the procedures performed is not sufficient to constitute an audit, the reports do not provide an audit opinion. Reports state those procedures actually applied and only the factual results of those procedures, leaving the reader to determine whether, in the present context, the performance indicators are complete, sufficiently accurate for intended users, and adequately disclosed in accordance with the stated criteria.

The following is a list of jurisdictions that have engaged their auditor to provide audit assurance on their health reports and those that have asked for specified auditing procedures to be applied.

Source: Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors—Health Information Study Group