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Section II—Planning Highlights by Product Line

Our main legislative auditing activities

The Office contributes to a well-managed and accountable government for Canadians through our work in the five types of legislative auditing activities (Exhibit 4).

Exhibit 4—Our legislative auditing activities

Financial audits of Crown corporations, territorial governments, and other organizations, and of the summary financial statements of the Government of Canada

Performance audits and studies

Monitoring of sustainable development activities and the environmental petitions process

Special examinations of Crown corporations

Assessments of agency performance reports

 

We gather information on the impact of our work and have established indicators and targets to measure the results for our three major activities: financial audits, performance audits, and special examinations. The following sections describe the main activities, expected results, performance objectives, indicators and targets, and planned financial resources for each of these activities.

Review and revision of performance targets

We recently reviewed all of our targets and revised some effective in 2009–10 (Exhibit 5). We begin our performance target-setting process by identifying any standards established by legislative or other authorities. For example, many of our financial audits have statutory reporting deadlines and, for these audits, our on-time target is 100 percent. Where no such standards exist, we look to identify reasonable expectations and then consider the trend of past performance. For example, while we might expect that all audits would be completed within 150 days of the year end to be timely and useful, our experience has been that about 80 percent are completed within this time period. We believe that our targets represent reasonable performance expectations and failure to meet them would alert us to a potential problem.

Exhibit 5—Revised performance targets effective in 2009–10

Objectives and indicators	Original target	Revised target
Percentage of audit committee chairs who find our financial audits add value	75	90
Percentage of Crown corporation and large-department senior managers who find our financial audits and special examinations add value	75	80
Percentage of department senior managers who find our performance audits add value	65	70
Percentage of financial audits of federal organizations with no statutory deadlines completed on time	70	80
Percentage of financial audits of territorial organizations completed on time	55	60
Percentage of financial audits of territorial organizations completed on budget	55	60

 

We set targets that we believe are realistic and attainable while holding ourselves to a high level of performance. For example, while we believe it is not realistic for all users of our reports to find that we always add value on all dimensions that we monitor, we believe that a realistic and high standard is that 9 out of 10 users of our reports would feel this way. We have therefore set a target of 90 percent for all users of our reports. In the case of the indicator of adding value for the organizations we audit, which are not our primary clients, our targets are slightly lower. Based on past results, we have set this target at 80 percent for senior managers subject to our financial audits and special examinations and 70 percent for senior managers subject to our performance audits. We believe that these targets reflect a very positive level of performance and any significantly different result would warrant our attention.

A complete list of our performance indicators and targets is included in Section III—Supplementary Information.

Financial audits of Crown corporations, territorial governments, and other organizations

Financial audits answer the following questions:

• Are the annual financial statements of Crown corporations, territorial governments, and other organizations presented fairly?
• Is the federal government presenting fairly its overall financial situation?
• Are these entities complying with their legislative authorities?

Planning highlights. The Office has statutory responsibilities for the audit of the summary financial statements of the Government of Canada and each of the three territorial governments, the financial statements of federal and territorial Crown corporations, and other entities. The audit of the International Labour Organization (a United Nations agency) is included among other entities.

We have also recently been named the auditor of the newly created Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office. While we were previously joint auditor of the Canada Lands Company Limited, we have recently been appointed sole auditor.

In 2010–11, we will conduct a total of more than 130 financial audits and related assurance engagements.

The following table includes the expected results, performance objectives, indicators and targets, and planned financial resources for financial audits of Crown corporations, territorial governments, and other organizations, as well as the audit of the summary financial statements of the Government of Canada (Exhibit 6).

Exhibit 6—Financial audits

Expected results Parliament and federal and territorial organizations are engaged in the audit process Parliament holds government to account Our work is relevant to federal and territorial organizations, departments, agencies, and Crown corporations
Objectives	Indicators and targets
Our work adds value for the key users of our reports	90 percent of audit committee chairs find our financial audits add value
Our work adds value for the organizations we audit	80 percent of Crown corporation and large-department senior managers find our financial audits add value
Key users of our reports and the organizations we audit respond to our findings	100 percent of the reservations in our audit opinions are addressed from one financial audit to the next
Planned financial resources 2010–11: $41.1 million

 

Performance audits and studies of departments and agencies

Performance audits answer the following questions:

• Are federal government programs well managed?
• Have they been run with due regard to economy, efficiency, and their environmental effects?
• Does the government have the means to measure their effectiveness where it is reasonable and appropriate to do so?

Planning highlights. In 2010–11, we plan to report the findings of 24 federal and territorial performance audits identified through our risk-based planning process. Our audit schedule for the coming year is in Section III—Supplementary Information.

The following table includes the expected results, performance objectives, indicators and targets, and planned financial resources for performance audits and studies (Exhibit 7).

Exhibit 7—Performance audits and studies

Expected results Parliament and federal and territorial organizations are engaged in the audit process Parliament holds government to account Our work is relevant to federal and territorial organizations, departments, agencies, and Crown corporations
Objectives	Indicators and targets
Key users of our reports are engaged in the audit process	60 percent of performance audits are reviewed by parliamentary committees Maintain the percentage of parliamentary hearings and briefings we participate in, relative to the number of sitting days
Our work adds value for the key users of our reports	90 percent of selected parliamentary committee members find our performance audits add value
Our work adds value for the organizations we audit	70 percent of departmental senior managers find our performance audits add value
Key users of our reports and the organizations we audit respond to our findings	75 percent of performance audit recommendations are substantially or fully implemented four years after their publication
Planned financial resources 2010–11: $41.6 million

 

Special examinations

A special examination of a Crown corporation answers the following question:

• Do the systems and practices used by the Crown corporation provide reasonable assurance that assets are safeguarded, that resources are managed economically and efficiently, and that operations are carried out effectively?

Planning highlights. During a 10-year period, the Office performs special examinations of about 45 federal Crown corporations. In 2010–11, we plan to report on the special examinations of the 4 corporations listed in Section III—Supplementary Information.

The following table includes the expected results, performance objectives, indicators and targets, and planned financial resources for special examinations of Crown corporations (Exhibit 8).

Exhibit 8—Special examinations

Expected results Parliament and federal organizations are engaged in the audit process Parliament holds government to account Our work is relevant to federal organizations, departments, agencies, and Crown corporations
Objectives	Indicators and targets
Our work adds value for the key users of our reports	90 percent of board chairs find our special examinations add value
Our work adds value for the organizations we audit	80 percent of Crown corporation chief executive officers find our special examinations add value
Key users of our reports and the organizations we audit respond to our findings	100 percent of significant deficiencies are addressed from one special examination to the next
Planned financial resources 2010–11: $1.9 million

 

Our measures of organizational performance

We measure and manage our performance as an organization in a number of ways. The following section describes three key areas of our performance and the objectives, indicators, and targets that we measure our performance against.

Delivering our work on time and on budget

The following table includes the objectives, indicators, and targets for delivering our work on time and on budget (Exhibit 9).

Exhibit 9—Delivering our work on time* and on budget**

Objectives	Indicators and targets
Financial audits
On time	100 percent of financial audits of federal Crown corporations are completed on time 100 percent of financial audits of other federal organizations with a statutory deadline are completed on time 80 percent of financial audits of federal organizations with no statutory deadline are completed on time 60 percent of financial audits of territorial organizations are completed on time
On budget	80 percent of financial audits of federal Crown corporations are completed on budget 80 percent of financial audits of other federal organizations with a statutory deadline are completed on budget 80 percent of financial audits of federal organizations with no statutory deadline are completed on budget 80 percent of financial audits of territorial organizations are completed on budget
Performance audits
On time	90 percent of performance audit reports are completed by the planned tabling date as published in the Report on Plans and Priorities
On budget	80 percent of performance audits are completed on budget
Special examinations
On time	100 percent of special examination reports are delivered on or before the statutory deadline
On budget	80 percent of special examinations are completed on budget
* “On time” for financial audits means the statutory deadline where one exists (usually 90 days after year end), or 150 days after the year end where no statutory deadline exists. ** “On budget” means that the actual hours to complete an audit did not exceed the budgeted hours by more than 15 percent.

 

Ensuring our audit reports are reliable

In 2008–09, we changed our performance indicator from “the percentage of internal practice reviews that find our audits in compliance with our quality management system” to “the percentage of practice reviews that find the opinions and conclusions expressed in our audit reports are appropriate and supported by the evidence.” This change reflects the fact that while compliance with our Quality Management System is intended to ensure that audit opinions and conclusions are appropriate, ultimately it is the reliability of the opinions and conclusions expressed in our reports that is important to Parliament and the public.

The Office is currently undergoing a peer review led by the National Audit Office of Australia. The review encompasses all three of our main audit practices, as well as key services that directly support audit operations. We will report the results of the peer review in mid-2010.

The following table includes the objectives, indicators, and targets for ensuring that our audit reports are reliable (Exhibit 10).

Exhibit 10—Ensuring our audit reports are reliable

Objectives	Indicators and targets
Our audit reports are reliable	100 percent of internal practice reviews find the opinions and conclusions expressed in our audit reports are appropriate and supported by the evidence
Our Quality Management System is suitably designed and operating effectively	External peer reviews find our quality management frameworks are suitably designed and operating effectively

 

Providing a respectful workplace

We are committed to providing a working environment in which all are treated with dignity and respect and encouraged to realize their full career potential. We encourage open and honest communication to create a climate of trust and teamwork. We value each other's talent and diversity and support learning and quality-of-life endeavours. These values define how we conduct ourselves and carry out our work. In addition, the Office strongly supports the values of competency, representativeness, non-partisanship, fairness, employment equity, transparency, flexibility, affordability, and efficiency. The Office includes these values in all of its human resource activities. In addition, since 2005 50 percent of managers' performance pay has been tied to their people management skills. Our biennial Employee Satisfaction Survey provides us with feedback on overall employee satisfaction, things we are doing well, and areas that deserve attention. The next survey is scheduled for 2010.

The following table includes the objectives, indicators, and targets for providing a respectful workplace (Exhibit 11).

Exhibit 11—Providing a respectful workplace

Objectives	Indicators and targets
Overall employee satisfaction	80 percent of employees believe the Office is either an above-average place to work or one of the best places to work
Bilingual workforce	100 percent of assistant auditors general and principals meet our language requirements 75 percent of directors in bilingual regions meet our language requirements
Diverse workforce	100 percent representation relative to workforce availability for women, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, and members of visible minorities
Employee retention	90 percent retention of audit professionals

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