1992-1993 Restatement Completed

Finance Minister Neil LeBlanc fulfilled a commitment made to one of his legislature colleagues when he released a restatement today of the 1992-1993 operating results.

Lunenburg West MLA Don Downe had requested that the 1992-1993 results be calculated using generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Using GAAP has been the standard government practice in preparing its annual financial statements since 1999, but were not used prior to then.

The unaudited restatement shows an operating deficit under GAAP of $682 million for 1992-1993. Two extraordinary items -- a writedown of Nova Scotia Resources Ltd. exploration expenditures and of Sydney Steel property and equipment -- totalled an additional $431 million.

Minister LeBlanc said the restatement was done only as a courtesy to the member. He said it has no relevance to budget decisions being made today and does not change the province'' s debt or current financial situation.

After GAAP was fully adopted for the 1998-1999 financial statements, the statements for 1997-1998 were restated for comparison purposes as required by accounting practices. Years previous to 1997-1998 were not restated, as such an exercise would serve no useful purpose.