Finances

Independent audit report to the members of the Australian Library and Information Association

Audit opinion

In our opinion, the financial report of the Australian Library and Information Association Limited:

• gives a true and fair view, as required by the Corporations Act 2001 in Australia, of the financial position of Australian Library and Information Association Limited as at 31 December 2003, and of its performance for the year ended on that date, and
  
  
• is presented in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001, accounting standards and other mandatory financial reporting requirements in Australia, and the Corporations Regulations 2001.

This opinion must be read in conjunction with the rest of our audit report.

Scope

The financial report and directors'responsibility

The financial report comprises the statement of financial position, statement of financial performance, statement of cashflows, accompanying notes to the financial statements, and the directors' declaration, for the year ended 31 December 2003. The directors of the Association are responsible for the preparation and true and fair presentation of the financial report inaccordance with the Corporations Act 2001. This includes responsibility for the maintenance of adequate accounting records and internal controls that are designed to prevent and detect fraud and error, and for the accounting policies and accounting estimates inherent in the financial report.

Audit approach

We conducted an independent audit in order to express an opinion to the members of the Association. Our audit was conducted in accordance with Australian auditing standards, in order to provide reasonable assurance as to whether the financial report is free of material misstatement.The nature of an audit is influenced by factors such as the use of professional judgement, selective testing, the inherent limitations of internal control, and the availability of persuasive rather than conclusive evidence. Therefore, an audit cannot guarantee that all material misstatements have been detected. We performed procedures to assess whether in all material respects the financial report presents fairly, in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001, accounting standards and other mandatory financial reporting requirements in Australia, a view which is consistent with our understanding of the Association financial position, and its performance as represented by the results of its operations and cash flows. We formed our audit opinion on the basis of these procedures, which included:

• examining, on a test basis, information to provide evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial report, and
• assessing the appropriateness of the accounting policies and disclosures used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the directors.

When this audit report is included in an annual report, our procedures include reading the other information in the annual report to determine whether it contains any material inconsistencies with the financial report. While we considered the effectiveness of management's internal controls over financial reporting when determining the nature and extent of our procedures, our audit was not designed to provide assurance on internal controls. Our audit did not involve an analysis of the prudence of business decisions made by directors or management.

Independence

In conducting our audit, we followed applicable independence requirements of Australian professional ethical pronouncements and the Corporations Act 2001.

PricewaterhouseCoopers
Chartered accountants

Mike Empson
Partner

Canberra March 2004

Directors' declaration

The directors declare that the financial statements and notes set out on pages 10 to 16:

1. comply with Accounting Standards, the Corporations Regulations 2001 and other mandatory professional reporting requirements; and
2. give a true and fair view of the Association's financial position as at 31 December 2003 and of its performance, as represented by the results of its operations and its cash flows, for the financial year ended on that date.

In the directors' opinion:

1. the financial statements and notes are in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001; and
2. there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Association will be able to pay its debts as and when they become due and payable.

This declaration is made in accordance with a resolution of the directors.

Christine Mackenzie
Director

Imogen Garner
Director

Canberra, March 2004