In October 2014, the province of Nova Scotia announced that it would provide Nova Star Cruises Limited, the new operator of the ferry between Yarmouth, NS, and Portland, Maine, with $5 million in addition to its original subsidy of $21 million. As part of the new funding agreement, Nova Star is to provide the province with weekly reports and projections of its cash flows, and twice-weekly reports on its bookings and other business information. The province contracted KPMG to perform certain specified (or agreed-upon) procedures to assist it in validating the operating costs reported by Nova Star. Michel Samson, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, explained, “We’re helping Nova Star cover these costs, with more reporting required by the company and more monitoring to protect taxpayers.”

REQUIRED
Access the KPMG Report at https://novascotia.ca/tran /yarmouthferry/StartupCosts011815.pdf to answer the following questions.
a. One of your friends, who is a reporter for a local newspaper, has asked you to help make sense of the report and its findings. Provide the explanation requested by your friend. In your discussion, explain the purpose of this type of engagement, why the Government of Nova Scotia would request this type of engagement, the purpose of the procedures, and the significance of the findings.
b. Several newspapers in Canada and the United States have referred to the KPMG engagement as an audit. Others have referred to the engagement as a review. Is either of these descriptions correct? Explain.