Australia: Third quarterly audit of barley single desk showed no adverse findings

The South Australian Barley Single Desk Transparency Committee has completed its latest quarterly review of the South Australian legislated barley pool which again has revealed no adverse findings, ABB Grain released October 03.

The third review, conducted by auditors Ernst & Young, was undertaken in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards applicable to the procedures agreed upon by the committee.

In accordance with agreed post review reporting arrangements, the South Australian Barley Single Desk Transparency Committee (SABSDTC) issued this statement:

As agreed with the South Australian Barley Single Desk Transparency Committee we have performed agreed-upon procedures with respect to the operation of ABB Grain Limited’s South Australian legislated barley pool for the quarter ended 31 July 2006…Based on the testing performed, we noted no adverse findings to report to the Transparency Committee.

SABSDTC chairman, James Rackham, said the latest review had included:

• Testing the one internal ABB Grain stock swap between the barley pool and other trading operations to consider whether procedures associated with the transaction were in line with established procedures
• Reviewing procedures and processes associated with the preparation and information included in pool return updates provided to growers; and
• Obtaining reports from PricewaterhouseCoopers in relation to the operation of Grain Australia (ABB Grain’s marketing alliance with the West Australian Grain Pool Pty Limited) and holding discussions with management regarding any relevant matters or findings which may impact the barley pool from these reports.

“It was pleasing that the audit again has revealed no adverse findings and that appropriate processes are being followed,” Mr Rackham said.

Mr Rackham noted that since the last quarterly audit media release on June 28, ABB management have documented and implemented a formal policy and process for identifying and approving internal stock swap transactions between the SA barley pool and other ABB Grain trading operations.

“The auditor has commended the document as going forward, all such transactions can be reviewed and benchmarked to determine that they are in line with the established procedural requirements,” he said.

“This latest audit concluded that on the testing of internal stock swaps between the pool and other trading operations, the current processes in place are appropriate and thorough.

“He also noted that there were no internal sales and purchases in the quarter ended July 31, 2006 between the pool and ABB’s trading division.”

Mr Rackham reminded the public of the stakeholder inquiry procedure, which ensured consistency in the process for receiving external enquiries, determining whether enquiries are appropriate for the committee to pursue, and formalises procedures for responding to external enquiries.

The SABSDTC was established in August 2005 following talks between ABB Grain and the SA Farmers’ Federation Grains Council. Besides Mr Rackham, membership is Garry Hansen (SAFFGC member), Peter Treloar (Eyre Peninsula grower) and ABB Grain Export directors – Trevor Day, Paul Daniel and Andrew Barr – who are also SA grain growers.

04 October, 2006