Auditor General Highlights Financial Results and Opportunities to Improve Accountability and Performance Reporting

Press Release

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada—December 11, 2025—Alberta’s Auditor General today released a series of reports including the audit of the province’s consolidated financial statements, performance audits, and assessments of how previous recommendations have been implemented. The reports highlight opportunities for process improvement, weaknesses in public performance reporting to Albertans, instances where government has chosen not to implement recommendations, and challenges accessing information by the Auditor General.

Audit of the 2024-2025 Consolidated Financial Statements of the Province of Alberta

“I am pleased to report to Albertans that my office provided a clean audit opinion on the province’s
consolidated financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2025,” said Auditor General Doug Wylie.
“This independent assurance means Albertans can trust that the province’s financial statements are
accurate, free from significant errors and prepared in line with Canadian Public Sector Accounting
Standards.

“We delivered this opinion on June 16, 2025, which ensured the government could meet its June 30
reporting deadline.”

The report identifies key audit matters or matters in our professional judgement that were of most
significance. These include accounting for environmental liabilities; pension liabilities; private equities;
inflation-sensitive investments, and alternative investments; investments in and toll commitments
related to the North West Redwater Partnership; and personal income tax revenue.

Report Highlights

AHS Public Performance Reporting Performance Audit (Alberta Health Services)

“Alberta is undertaking the most significant health system transformation in over a decade, creating new
health care entities and promising better results for Albertans,” said Wylie. “Transparent and reliable
public reporting is essential to demonstrate cost-effective results are being achieved.”

The Auditor General looked at AHS’s public performance reporting, including its annual report and its
reporting to Albertans on the commitments of the Healthcare Action Plan for the 2023 fiscal year—the
period of April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.

This performance audit found that public reporting on the Healthcare Action Plan was inconsistent with
what was committed to and inconsistent from report to report.

Provincial law was not complied with by not publishing AHS’s business plan for the 2023 fiscal year, and
the business plan for 2024 was published 300 days into the fiscal year. Authoritative documentation and
policy guiding health authority public performance reporting was either outdated or non-existent.

“While our audit examined past performance, the learnings from the audit are very relevant to the
restructured health system. The new health care organizations can set the foundation for success by
clearly defining objectives, showing how results will be achieved, and reporting progress publicly,” said
Wylie.

Mine Financial Security Program Assessment of Implementation (Environment and Protected Areas)

The Auditor General completed his assessment of implementation of the recommendation from his July
2015 audit related to the systems to ensure sufficient financial security to cover land disturbances from
mining. The Department of Environment and Protected Areas has only partly implemented the Auditor
General recommendation.

• Not implemented—Assess whether changes to the Mine Financial Security Program (MFSP) asset
  calculations are needed to prevent overestimating asset values
• Implemented—Analyze and conclude on the impact of extended mine life on the Mine Financial
  Security Program security collection

“We assess this recommendation as not implemented because the risk of overstatement of asset values
remains high, and the department stated it will not make any further substantive changes to the
calculation method,” said Wylie. “The department also stated the method and calculated values are
reasonable and that the MFSP is functioning as intended, but we found no evidence to support these
claims.”

We found:

• MFSP asset calculation still risks overstatement of the economic value of mining assets
• Asset Safety Factor not yet evaluated
• Risk of delayed deposits mitigated by not allowing in-situ reserves and mine combinations

“If MFSP assets are overstated, operators might not pay the necessary security, leaving Albertans at risk
of bearing the financial costs of oil sands mine reclamation or the mines being unreclaimed,” said Wylie.

Flood Mitigation Systems Assessment of Implementation (Environment and Protected Areas and
Municipal Affairs)

Access to Information Challenges

The Auditor General was denied certain information requested, in accordance with the Auditor General
Act, to assess the implementation of a flood mitigation systems recommendation to the Department of
Municipal Affairs.

We asked Municipal Affairs to provide the analyses they said they had prepared related to risks and to
controlling and regulating development in flood hazard areas. The department did not provide any
information to the Auditor General in this regard. Municipal Affairs told the Auditor General their
analysis is privileged, and they could not provide it.

“Our report remains incomplete without this information, which we believe is important to the public,”
said Wylie. “Examining analysis, prepared by a department, as it relates to risks and risk management is
a routine part of our work. As a result, our findings may not reflect pertinent and significant information,
and our work is incomplete in this regard.”

Three of the recommendations from our March 2015 audit of Flood Mitigation Systems have been
implemented. Both departments stated that the fourth recommendation—to designate flood hazard
areas and complete floodway development regulation—will not be implemented.

We found:

• Environment and Protected Areas’ risk analysis was incomplete and inadequate
• Municipal Affairs did not provide their analysis to the Auditor General, claiming it is privileged
• No evidence current measures will effectively mitigate risks and no plan to monitor impact on flood
  hazard area development

Reports Tabled

The following reports were released today to all Members of the Legislative Assembly and Albertans and
are available at oag.ab.ca.

• Audit of the 2024–2025 Consolidated Financial Statements of the Province of Alberta / Annual
  Summary of Ministry Audit Work
  Recommendations—New: 3 | Repeated: 1 | Implemented: 4
• AHS Public Performance Reporting Performance Audit
  Recommendations—New: 6
• Flood Mitigation Systems Assessment of Implementation
  Recommendations—Not Implemented: 1 | Implemented: 3
• Mine Financial Security Program Assessment of Implementation
  Recommendations—Not Implemented: 1
• Accessibility to Post-secondary Education Performance Audit
  Recommendations—New: 2
• Family Support for Children with Disabilities Assessment of Implementation
  Recommendations—Implemented: 3
• Systems to Improve Student Attendance in Northland School Division Assessment of
  Implementation
  Recommendations—Implemented: 3
• Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expenses of the Premier, Ministers, and Their Staff

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The Office of the Auditor General is independent of government and those it audits. Its work is mandated in
legislation, and is not negotiated under contract, ensuring its independence of what it audits and how it reports the results of its work. This ensures its work is objective. The Office of the Auditor General is a credible and trusted source of information on government spending and activities.

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