If you think this year's mid-year report on Saskatchewan's finances shows a balanced budget, take a closer look. With the help of a divining stick, a crystal ball and some strong peyote, you might see the bad news.

Our government's method of financial reporting is pre-historic. Most other provinces are moving towards accounting and reporting practices that show all of government on the books. Our government only reports on the General Revenue Fund, and ignores crown corporations and other government agencies that make up the bulk of the government's balance sheet. We stand along side PEI and Newfoundland as provinces conducting stone age accounting -- the kind of gobbledy-gook that lands private sector CEOs in an unemployment line.

The province is forecasting a balanced budget, but that statement is about as sincere as a Bill Clinton apology. They're forecasting a balanced budget despite the debt growing by around $520 million. Go figure. They consider it balanced because their reporting only includes the General Revenue Fund. The crop insurance payouts, for example, are not included as expenses that would result in a massive deficit, instead they are shown as a debt. It's a shell game.

The province spent more than forecast on farm assistance and forest fires, and took a bizarre $600 million reduction in transfers from Ottawa. To put that in perspective, $600 million is budgeted for education in Saskatchewan - our second largest expenditure next to health.

This is a devastating blow to the provincial budget, explained away with one sentence in the mid-year report: "The decline is the result of negative prior year adjustments and a reduction in current year entitlements." It's bad, but it could have been much worse. Our savior comes in the form of gusher oil and gas revenues ($300 million higher than forecast) and personal income tax ($236 million higher than budgeted).

Here's the rub: The government has known since summer the crops are bad, and they have known since October that transfers from Ottawa are plummeting. What would you do if you were hit with an unexpected bill for thousands of dollars You'd probably cut spending, postpone buying a new car, delay those planned renovations, or scale back your vacation plans.

But for government in Saskatchewan it's business as usual. They further invest millions in dicey ethanol schemes, and a dubious multi-million dollar advertising campaign. No hiring freeze, no spending reductions, no deferred capital projects. They just slap everything on the taxpayer-backed credit card. In fact, total government spending is at one of the highest levels in Saskatchewan history, while our population remains virtually unchanged.

Because of the poor accounting and reporting practices that have been admonished by the Auditor General, taxpayers will never truly know how bad the government's finances are until the dog days of summer, and - coincidentally - after a likely spring election. Sketchy accounting hides the deficit and gives the government an escape hatch. If nobody knows how bad the problem is, MLAs aren't compelled by constituents to make tough decisions. At least, not until the bill comes next summer.