National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) reporters may choose to appoint a registered greenhouse and energy auditor to undertake voluntary assurance over their NGER reporting. This form of assurance is of value to reporters and provides a greater level of confidence in their reporting compliance. Voluntary assurance also plays a crucial role in providing confidence to the Clean Energy Regulator in the accuracy and completeness of reported information. In addition to voluntary assurance undertaken by industry, the Regulator may choose to conduct audits of reported information under sections 73, 74 or 74A of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER Act).

When will a voluntary audit be enough?

Reasonable assurance voluntary audits

For reasonable assurance audits conducted by a Category 2 registered greenhouse and energy auditor (auditor), in accordance with the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Audit) Determination 2009 (Audit Determination), the Regulator will not seek to duplicate effort in re-auditing the same information.

Limited assurance voluntary audits

For limited assurance audits conducted by a Category 2 auditor, in accordance with the Audit Determination, the Regulator will have regard to the information contained in the audit report and the extent of testing conducted as part of the limited assurance audit. The Regulator will not seek to re-audit the same information where the limited assurance audit provides sufficient confidence over the reported information.

Compliance history

The Regulator will also take into account the compliance history of the reporter. Where the reporter has been subject to a Regulator-initiated audit in the past three years, the agency will not seek to conduct an audit over the current reporting year.

When will a Clean Energy Regulator initiated audit still be required?

The Regulator may still initiate an audit of previously audited information, where:

• the Regulator has reasonable grounds to suspect a reporter has contravened, is contravening, or is proposing to contravene, the NGER Act or the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Regulations 2008, or
• a limited assurance audit does not provide sufficient information to provide confidence over the reported information, or
• the audit was not conducted by a Category 2 auditor or in accordance with the Audit Determination, or
• the audit has identified a potential error or has a modified opinion, or
• the audit does not provide sufficient detail to address the specific compliance priorities of the agency.

Where you may be required to undertake a Regulator-initiated audit, we will notify you prior to the commencement of the audit. You will have the opportunity to provide additional information to the Regulator that may assist in the final audit selection.

If you have undertaken voluntary assurance of your reports, we encourage you to submit this information to the Regulator with your NGER report.

Examples of voluntary audit use

Example A

Company A is a large coal mining company. The vast majority of their emissions come from the venting and flaring of coalmine waste gas. Company A engages a Category 2 auditor to conduct a reasonable assurance audit over their NGER report in accordance with the Clean Energy Regulator audit framework. Company A provides the Regulator with a copy of the full audit report, including the detailed findings at Part B.

In this instance, it is unlikely the Regulator would seek additional assurance over that year’s reporting.

Example B

Company B is a metals and minerals manufacturer with a broad range of NGER activities and fuels. Company B has engaged their financial auditor—an ASIC registered company auditor who is not a Category 2 auditor—to conduct assurance over their NGER report. Company A attaches a copy of the audit to their NGER report when submitting to the Regulator.

In this instance, the audit opinion may provide the Regulator with some confidence in the accuracy and completeness of the report. However, the Regulator may still wish to initiate an audit of Company B’s report, or a subset of activities based on the Regulator’s compliance priorities.

Example C

Company C is a large transport company with vehicles and warehouses across the country. They have engaged a Category 1 auditor to conduct a limited assurance audit of their NGER report. Company C provides the audit to the Regulator in support of their NGER report.

While this limited assurance opinion can provide some additional confidence, the Regulator may choose to initiate a reasonable assurance audit of Company C to better understand their reporting and gain additional confidence in the completeness and accuracy of the NGER report.Updated