Auditor Consents

This article was originally published in the Investment Funds Practitioner in January 2010.

We remind filers of the requirements to file auditor consents contained in sections 2.6(1)(a) and 2.6(2) of NI 81-101. Section 2.6(2) also includes a requirement to file a consent in connection with future statements incorporated by reference at the time those future financial statements are filed.

The following is a general summary of some staff practices relating to the filing of auditor consents under NI 81-101 in connection with an amendment to a simplified prospectus and/or AIF.

• For slip-sheet amendments and amended and restated simplified prospectuses and AIFs, if new annual financial statements have been incorporated by reference since the date of filing the simplified prospectus and AIF, we will generally issue a comment regarding the filing of a new auditor’s consent letter in respect of the new audited annual financial statements if the consent letter wasn’t filed concurrently with the annual financial statements (see section 2.6 of NI 81-101).
• If there have been no new annual financial statements filed since the date of the simplified prospectus and AIF, but the slip-sheet amendment or the amended and restated simplified prospectus and AIF refers to a correction to the annual financial statements or contains amended information derived from annual financial statements, we will generally raise a comment regarding the filing of a new auditor’s consent letter.