PACC Committee Report

RESPONSES TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 8^th REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

 

Recommendation 1 -- That the Office of the Auditor General conduct a thorough review of its methods of assessing its recommendations and observations, including their impact, and rates and timeliness of adoption, and report the results and conclusions in its Performance Report for the period ending 31 March 2002.

 

Recommendation 2 -- That the Office of the Auditor General pursue efforts to estimate the money that government operations may have saved, directly or indirectly, as a result of the work and recommendations of the Office, and that it report these instances as examples in its annual Performance Report.

 

Recommendation 3 -- That the Office of the Auditor General of Canada further clarify and strengthen the links between its objectives and planned activities, as stated in its annual Report on Plans and Priorities, and the activities it has completed and the outcomes it has achieved, as reported in its annual Performance Report.

 

Recommendation 4 -- That in its annual Performance Report, the Office of the Auditor General begin to show actual hours spent on individual audits compared against budgeted hours.

 

Recommendation 7 -- That the Office of the Auditor General conduct random audits of the information contained in the performance reports of departments and agencies in order to verify, among other things, that the information contained in these reports is a fair representation of accomplishments against goals and objectives.

 

Response:

 

The Government is appreciative of the work of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in considering the Report on Plans and Priorities and the Performance Report of the Auditor General of Canada.  The Government notes the important work of the OAG is of interest to all Canadians.

 

The five recommendations identified above are within the purview of the Auditor General to answer directly to Parliament.

 

Recommendation 5 -- That the base budget of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada be immediately increased by an amount that is sufficient for the Office to be able to perform all duties that are imposed by statute or as are required by Parliament.

 

Response:

 

In June 2001, Treasury Board approved $17M over two fiscal years.  This funding is pending Parliamentary approval of Appropriations for Supplementary Estimates A later this year.

 

The funding provided will:

 

·        Ensure the integrity of the audit of the Public Accounts;

·        Allow the OAG to continue to meet the expectations of Parliament by reporting on matters of risk and significance related to Section 7 of the Auditor General Act in a timely manner;

·        Allow the OAG to increase its capacity to meet the requirements for Value-For-Money audits of federal government departments and agencies;

·        Provide the OAG with the flexibility to pursue its strategy for the renewal of its intellectual capital, which calls for the recruitment, training and retention of new staff; and

·        Offset the cost for the replacement of office furniture as part of the OAG’s space optimisation project in partnership with Public Work and Government Services Canada.

 

Adequate funding of government operations is the result of many factors, including affordability, the capacity of the organization to reallocate internally, and the risk associated with inadequate funding.  The funding of the OAG, as a parliamentary agency, requires balancing the principle of independence with the duty of the federal executive to ensure financial responsibility and recommend funding initiatives to Parliament.  With this in mind, the Government has undertaken consultations with the OAG regarding a process for determining funding requirements for the OAG. 

 

Recommendation 6 -- That the current funding arrangements for the Office of the Auditor General be subject to review by a standing committee of the House of Commons during the current session of this Parliament.

 

Response:

 

At the time that the Auditor General’s funding request was approved, Ministers also authorized TBS to undertake consultations with OAG that are to lead to a process for determining future years’ funding requirements for the Office.  This process will respect the independence of the Auditor General and its mandate to audit government programs and activities.

 

The consultations are underway and will cover:

 

·        the scope of the process (i.e., the respective role of the OAG and TBS, and the subject matter to be addressed including the capacity of the OAG to reallocate);

·        the nature of the information exchange essential to this process; and

·        the frequency with which this process will be undertaken.

 

The Government is hopeful that this process will contribute to appropriate funding decisions within the current decision-making framework.

 

Recommendation 8 -- That senior management of departments and agencies be required to include, in their annual performance reports, signed statements attesting to the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the information provided therein.  This requirement should take effect beginning with the annual performance reports for the period ending 31 March 2002.

 

Response:

 

The Government is of the view that the Departmental Performance Reports are useful in terms of holding Ministers accountable for the performance of their Departments.  Requiring senior management to sign a Performance Report would not make the Minister less or more accountable for his or her Department’s performance.

 

The Government will take this recommendation under advisement and notes that prior consultation would be required with central agencies and departments to identify the merits of such an approach.