Public Accounts committee  No, I would say it cuts across all types of audits.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I would describe my approach as one of being fair, of trying to make sure I understood the issues in the particular audit, and of making sure that the auditors recognized that when making a recommendation, the recommendation needs to be something that can be implemented.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. The first thing to recognize is that the Office of the Auditor General of Canada has significant capacity, and in both languages. The importance of the issues to any part of the country will not be affected by my moving into the role. As I say, the capacity is there, within the office, to deal with those types of issues.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, I am not a beginner. As I mentioned, I am determined and I have committed to learning French because I recognize the importance of communicating in both official languages. I commit to improving my French, and I will continue to do that. As I've said, I am not a beginner; I do have a certain proficiency in French.

Public Accounts committee  The basic work is the same. In terms of financial statement audits, performance audits, compliance audits, special reviews, the fundamental work that is done is the same. An audit is a process, a process that involves identifying topics that need to be examined, identifying the objectives, the criteria for conducting the audit, gathering the evidence, assessing the evidence, and producing a report.

Public Accounts committee  As comptroller, as I said, I was responsible for internal audit. Many of the internal audits that we did were in fact performance audits, so they were very similar to the performance audits that an auditor general would perform. The difference would be in the audience that receives the report.

Public Accounts committee  I think, Mr. Chair, I need some more information about the particular policy, as I can't try to audit here at the table a policy that I'm not aware of.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  Five years.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  That's true; I have spent 11 years in the provincial government in various roles—five years as comptroller, five years as auditor general, and one year as a deputy minister and—

Public Accounts committee  As part of this process, I was tested to see what my capacity would be to learn French. It was determined that I had an above-average capacity or ability to learn French. It will be a number one priority for me. I have been working on it; I am not a beginner in the language. I still have lots of work to do in it, but I think I will be able to get to a level of proficiency within a reasonably short period of time—I would say within the first year.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The comptroller in New Brunswick is responsible for the preparation of the province's financial statements, the operation of the province's financial information system, and the operation of internal audit activities for the province as a whole. I think those types of functions are consistent among comptrollers throughout the country and consistent with the comptroller's office in the federal government, particularly on the internal audit side and in terms of making accounting policies for the government to follow.

Public Accounts committee  Certainly part of the role of an auditor general is to look at the different rules and policies that exist for a government and to test against those particular policies.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. No, in fact I didn't. I was approached by the search firm. They asked me if I would submit a resumé for the position. I was told at the time that in their consideration of candidates my name had come up a number of times, and they therefore asked me to submit a resumé to them.