Thank you.
Yes, certainly we have similar audit technology. We use TeamMate in Australia as well for our financial statement work, and we have electronic record management systems, particularly for our performance auditors. They seem to be able to accumulate reams of information as they go about their work. We're now heavily into using technology to improve the efficiency and I think the effectiveness of our audit approach.
We in Australia adopted international financial reporting standards some years ago, and significant changes are coming through in accounting standards. Certainly in Australia we've seen a significant move from “historical cost” accounting to “present value” accounting. Assets and liabilities are measured at current values, not historical costs, which introduces more volatility into the presentation of information.
In some cases where balances are significant, just going back to the risk approach, where you have a significant liability--call it a superannuation liability, say, or employee benefits liability--and where you may need specialists' assistance, we now from time to time use actuaries on these significant numbers to make sure we cover off the risk that they're in fact not appropriately accounted for in terms of the standards.
We're using more specialists than ever before because of this move to more current-value presentation of information. In the public sector, we have a range of specialist assets. The reporting agencies use valuers in their work. From time to time, we may want a valuer of our own to assess the approach adopted by the entity's valuer. So there is some work involved there.
All that is just to say that the accounting standards are driving a fair volume of work for my office. On top of that are the auditing standards, which are changing all the time. With the underlying audit methodologies and systems that we have in place to support everyone, it means that there is a heavy training impost, probably up to two or three days a year, certainly, on average, plus regular--quite regular--technical updates to make sure our teams are across the issues as they arise and are fully informed about the various approaches.
So it's a very significant cost, but it's not always obvious, to outsiders looking in, the investment we make in training to make sure that we can produce quality audits.