Right now? Okay, with that in mind, I'd just like to give you a few perspectives. There has been a long conversation since we started a little bit.
First, I'd like to give the committee some assurance early in the conversation about the use of the word “dysfunctional”. We do an audit of a number of crown corporations and special exams and see all types of organizations and the state of affairs. I am quite comfortable in saying to you that this is not one we found to be dysfunctional. I have seen dysfunctional organizations, so I have a comparison by which to do that, and I just want the committee to be satisfied that from our perspective, we would not classify it that way.
That said, I do want to echo phraseology that Mr. Christopherson had used, sort of the colloquialism of the end justifies the means. In our particular case, our focus of this audit was on systems and practices and the importance of those systems and practices in being able to demonstrate due diligence on an ongoing basis. So while we recognize in many organizations we audit that the results can be positive, it is very important we think for crown corporations in fulfilling their obligations under the Financial Administration Act, to have robust and rigorous systems and practices.
What concerned us here, and Mr. Griffiths referred to the adverse opinion that we had provided, is that the nature of the systems and practices and the rigour in which they were applied were not what we would have expected of a crown corporation, not what we'd seen in the past, and we're concerned and that's why we had mentioned that.
I just wanted to echo that that's an important context for us.
There has been bit of a discussion about our past audit and this audit. I do what to inform the committee that all of our audits are done rigorously. We do, however, apply continuous improvement to our own work over the years, and we look at new risks and new issues and the expectations do change over time. But I do want to leave no doubt in your mind that all of our audits, even going back 10 years, are done rigorously and we seek evidence to support those, and when we don't find it, we call a spade a spade. That's always been the approach of our organization.
Finally, if I may, there has been, I think, a very good conversation around board appointments and the challenges both in the structure of boards and the timely replacement of boards, and you recognized that the Auditor General has been here to speak to some of those challenges.
One of the other exams that you'll be looking at has a similar challenge, when you examine the IDRC, a special examination. We are keeping a close eye on the appointments process, and considering what our future audit work might involve based on all of that.
I just wanted to give you some assurance that it is top of mind to us as well, as we look at that.
I think those were the principal matters I wanted to summarize for the benefit of members.