He said Government revenue and spending was "in pretty good shape".
"But the accounting impact of this now large growth of financial assets is a bit unpredictable.
"When you are aiming for a very small difference between large numbers - the surplus [forecast] in the Budget was around $70 million on a spending base of $70 billion - you are trying to land on a penny in the middle of a storm.
"So the accounting effect on all of those assets can create uncertainty."
The funds themselves are not calculated in the surplus - because New Zealand's surplus, or deficit, is measured by the operating balance before gains and losses.
"But the way they change in value and makeup can have an impact and because they are now so big, much bigger than the value of SOEs, for instance, they can kick your surplus around."
Just because there was confidence about growth in the economy, people should not be expecting some large unexpected surplus windfall.
Changes in the value of the funds could impact on the tax they paid.