We have provided this commentary on the financial audits we do. About 50% of the work we do is spent on audits of financial statements. What we are trying to do is find a way to help you as members of Parliament, members of this committee, to navigate and to understand the information contained in the financial statements. We have done this in a way that we hope provides some insight, but we will need your feedback on the type of information that is important to you.
We talk about things like the impact of discount rate sensitivity on results. I think it's important for members to understand that financial statements are not always precise. Many numbers are based on estimates. Things like pension liabilities and pension expense are based on estimates. The results you get once you have estimated—once you've assumed a certain discount rate or interest rate—can be very different. It is important to understand the impact of these assumptions on our results. Looking at a set of financial statements and understanding how much a set of financial statements is based on estimates and how much is based on hard dollar actions, this type of thing is important to members.
This is our attempt to give you a bit more information about the financial statements of various crown corporations. We hope to work with you in the future to understand the type of information that would be useful to you as members. Our purpose is to help you understand the information in the financial statements of the Government of Canada and our crown corporations.