The seminars were held in Wellington on 21-22 and 25-26 March 2013. They were targeted at those people responsible for complying with the Part 4 information disclosure (ID) requirements, their auditors, and their advisors. We were pleased to see a high level of interest—a total of 118 people attended the two seminars.
“This is the first time we have run seminars of this type, and is part of a shift in our approach to compliance as we move forward with the new rules under Part 4 of the Commerce Act,” said Commission General Manager Regulation, Dr John Hamill. “While we have now largely determined the regulatory rules under Part 4, we recognise that regulated suppliers are still becoming familiar with the requirements. This will take some time.”
We see this first year of the new ID requirements as a ‘bedding down’ period. During this initial period we will provide support to suppliers, such as the recent seminars, to help them get up to speed with their regulatory obligations.
“We expect that by providing suppliers with more comprehensive information on how we expect them to apply our requirements, we will see improvements over time in the level of compliance, and quality of information disclosed,” said Dr Hamill.
The objective of the two day seminars was for suppliers and auditors to obtain a good working understanding of the practical application of the requirements for the disclosure of historic financial information, including the application of relevant input methodologies. (Input methodologies set out the rules, requirements, and processes applying to regulation under Part 4, including the valuation of assets, cost allocation, and the treatment of taxation.)
Feedback from participants supported seminars of this kind, and provided a range of useful suggestions for future seminars.
The material we presented at the seminar is available on our Electricity Information Disclosure page or our Gas Information Disclosure page.
