Description: Well, they’ve gone and done it again. That’s three times in a row now that the Province of New Brunswick has gone ahead and appointed its Comptroller as its Auditor General, without the benefit of any cooling-off period. It seems very difficult to understand how this key financial officer in government – in this case, Paul Martin – could take over the audit of that same government while still appearing to be independent. But this appearance issue did not seem to bother a number of politicians in the province. Just exactly how they were able to assess this state of mind claim was not evident from their comments.

Date:  December 8, 2021

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-new-independent-watchdogs-1.6278203

Discussion points:

1) Do you know the name of the auditor general for your province? What job did they hold immediately before becoming auditor general?

2) What is your view on a comptroller becoming the auditor general?

3) In Chapter 2 of Wiley’s Auditing: A Practical Approach we can read about the five threats to independence. Which of these five do you think it would be most difficult for Mr. Martin to have to deal with on a go-forward basis in his new role?