Independent auditor’s report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries – Sustainable
Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project

Report on the Audit of the Financial Report

Opinion

We have audited the accompanying financial report of the Sustainable Agriculture Productivity
Improvement Project (“the Project”), which comprises the Statement of Cash Receipts and Cash
Payments for the year ended 31 December 2017, a summary of significant accounting policies,
other accompanying notes, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries - Project Management
Unit’s (“MDIR-PMU”) Statement of Approval.

In our opinion the financial report of the Sustainable Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project
presents fairly in all material respects the financial transactions for the period ended 31 December
2017, and;

    a. is in accordance with the requirements under the World Bank (“W B”) administered Grant
       Number TF0A2869 dated 16 November 2016;

    b. the financial report is prepared in accordance with the basis of accounting as disclosed in
       Note 1; and

    c. complies with the World Bank Disbursement Guidelines for Investment Project Financing.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Our responsibilities
under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the
Financial Report section of our report.

We are independent of the Project in accordance with the independence requirements of the
International Federation of Accountants (“IFAC”) Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. We
have also fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis
for our opinion.

Responsibilities of the Program Management Unit for the Financial Report

The Program Management Unit of the Project is responsible for the preparation and fair
presentation of the financial report in accordance with the financial reporting requirements under
the World Bank (“WB”) administered Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Trust Fund
Grant No. TF0A2869, dated 16 November 2016 (“Grant Agreement”), and for such internal control
as the Program Management Unit determines is necessary to enable the preparation of the financial
report that gives a true and fair view and is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud
or error.

The Program Management Unit is responsible for overseeing the Project’s financial reporting
process.
Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Report

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the Financial Report is free from
material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes
our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit
conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing will always detect a material
misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered
material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the
economic decisions of users taken based on the financial report.

As part of an audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing, we exercise
professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:

       Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial report, whether due
        to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain
        audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk
        of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting
        from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions,
        misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

       Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit
        procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for expressing an opinion on
        the effectiveness of the Project’s internal control.

       Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of
        accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

       Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial report, including the
        disclosures, and whether the financial report represents the underlying transactions and
        events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with management regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing
of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control
that we identify during our audit.




Merit Partners




Matthew Kennon
Director

Darwin
28 June 2019