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Description: Nothing to see here, at least for the Office of the Auditor General of New Brunswick when it tries to find out about taxpayer money inside a government-created entity called Vestcor. Vestcor was legislated into existence by the Province in 2016, changing the organization managing pensions for civil servants into a private organization. It is no longer considered a Crown-corporation accountable to legislators, and, ultimately, the citizens of NB. The Auditor General wants to look into the organization for a variety of reasons, one of which is to see why it is paying some extremely generous salaries and bonuses to Vestcor management. The CBC reported that the President of the organization reportedly made close to $1.4 million in 2018.

Date:  February 24, 2021

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/newbrunswick-legislature-vestcor-auditorgeneral-1.5926276

Discussion points:

1) What do you think of this controversy? Do you think the Auditor General should be granted access?

2) In what circumstances would it make sense for a government to establish a private corporation that would not be subject to an auditor general’s review?

3) On page 2-9 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making, we are introduced to the notion of pension and benefit obligations. Check out the public accounts (the financial statements) of your home province to determine how it accounts for its pension and benefit obligations to its employees.

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