The State Government of South Australia has appointed BDO Advisory (SA) Pty Ltd to undertake an independent audit on the Plantation Lease Agreement with OneFortyOne Plantations Pty Ltd. Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Tim Whetstone said BDO has partnered with specialist forest sector advisory firm Indufor to undertake the independent audit. Source: Timberbiz
“Both BDO Advisory and Indufor have extensive experience and capabilities to undertake an audit of this nature. Of particular note, the Indufor team working on the audit have 71 collective years’ experience in the forestry industry,” Minister Whetstone said.
“The audit is a comprehensive process which will focus on their compliance with conditions attached to the Plantation Lease Agreement it has with the state, particularly those relating to domestic sawlog supply.
“I have met with the South Australian Timber Processors Association and heard the concerns of small processors regarding lease term compliance.
“As I committed to the Association last year, the scope of the 2018 audit specifically targets the conditions in the lease agreement relevant to those concerns. This once-off audit represents an important opportunity to reset in a positive way the relations between industry and the community.
“OFO has agreed to fully cooperate with this audit which will be conducted under the ASAE 3100 standard, set by the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.”
Areas to be covered in the audit will include whether OFO has met the following requirements during 2018:
- area weighted average clearfall age
- tender process for uncontracted sawlog in excess of planned viable domestic supply
- sale contract lengths for sawlog exports
- the amount of sawlog and pulplog exported and if those logs were appropriately classified.
In addition, a review of ancillary confidential documents between the State and OFO (including agreements, deeds, contracts or similar) will be undertaken to determine: whether these documents contain any relevant undertakings relating to supply of product to domestic manufacturers not covered by the lease; whether those undertakings, if they exist, have been adhered to for calendar year 2018.
