WESTLOCK — Following the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Club’s (TVSC) capital plan presentation to Westlock County councillors in March, members were back to discuss revising the ski hill operation agreement and whether an audited financial statement is required.
Ultimately, councillors accepted the presentation at their June 13 regular council meeting as information after TVSC president Wendy Batog and treasurer Reint Boelman joined chartered accountant Tina Viney of Friesen Viney Stasiuk Chartered Professional Accountants to clarify wording of a portion of the agreement, the differences between a review engagement and financial audit and to explain details of their financial processes.
The amended portion of the contract was presented to councillors as part of the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting.
“In the initial contract it said the audited review engagement statement which does not exist so what we’re providing you is a ‘review engagement statement’,” said Boelman. “The audit part is our own internal audit which is allowed by the societies act.”
Viney noted the differences between a review and an audit and pointed out they both include detailing business processes. “For a review we still go through their business processes with them like we do with an audit, but it’s more discussion,” said Viney, noting a review involves a verbal explanation. “I’m looking for points for them to improve their processes which we’ve done over the years that we’ve been audited.”
Another difference between the two is with an audit “you’ll get down into the nitty gritty as far as revenue and expenses go,” Viney added, noting with a review there was more management discussion and analysis on the income statement side. “On the balance sheet side for audits and reviews, the audit is more in depth but a review covers most of the risks you would have. Last year, for example, our bill for the ski hill review engagement was $5,708. If we did an audit, it would probably cost at least $11,000.”
Batog added that the TVSC internal audit was a four-page document “of everything that goes on at the skill hill” and pointed out the two members (chosen) for it cannot be the president or treasurer.
Following the short presentation deputy reeve Ray Marquette pointed out that an audit was twice the cost of a review, while Coun. Stuart Fox-Robinson asked of Viney if she felt an audited financial statement would be in the public’s best interest, as the county contributes $170,000 annually to the facility. Viney noted that as with all money received, including the Westlock County grant, “we make sure it’s been spent in accordance with the grant agreement,” she said. Fox-Robinson, noting Viney and Associates were retained by TVSC, again reiterated his comment asking if the funding amount would be best served with an audited financial statement regardless of what it goes to and Viney replied, “In this case, I would say the review engagement is sufficient.”
Reeve Christine Wiese pointed out the contradictory wording which included audited financial review engagement. “Those are two separate things, there’s an audited financial or there’s a review engagement,” said Wiese, noting the wording is the reason why the matter returned to council. She also pointed out that as per the Alberta Societies Act (ASA) “a review engagement is not an audit. It does not provide the same level of assurance as an audit made by a professional accountant, it does not satisfy the requirement for an audited financial statement,” she said, asking who the two TVSC members were to complete an internal audit. Batog said Toni Siegel, the club’s secretary, who oversees OHS and insurance and Chelsea Pearce, who is currently the club’s vice-president and oversees rentals and web design, were the members for the internal audit. Wiese noted it could not be a director, employee, or anyone directly part of the club.
Batog said the club’s bylaws states that “all club accounts shall be audited at least once a year by a duly qualified accountant or by two members of the club elected for that purpose at the annual meeting.”
“So, according to the Alberta Societies Act and our legal department, we’ve been following what the ASA has indicated to us and legal counsel has said we’re going above than just the two-member audit,” said Batog, noting the new verbiage for the agreement.
Boelman replied that it was well worth spending the $5,700 for both them and the county. “We find it prudent on our end and it gives Wendy and I, as the people managing the money a lot more comfort that Tina and her office are going through that review engagement statement,” he said. “I believe it’s worthwhile to do that review engagement statement and not just leave it with the internal audit.”
