Mr. William Molloy:

The Comptroller and Auditor General made four recommendations, one of which was around the accounting approach. I always work on the basis that reasonable people with the same information would come to the same reasonable conclusion. Therefore, I questioned why our accountants and the Comptroller and Auditor General would have a different view on the same thing. Effectively, I think it comes down to timing. As the Comptroller and Auditor General report indicates, there was a reasonably significant amount of unmatched funds in terms of revenue that was not yet identified as being for the ICF or not for the ICF. We did not feel it appropriate to move to accrual-based accounting until we had clarity that the issue in terms of the revenue misallocation of funds was finished. My understanding is that we will now move to an accrual-based approach for the next set of accounts the committee will see.