PACC Committee Report
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 HOUSE OF COMMONS OTTAWA, CANADA |
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37th Parliament, 3rd Session |
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Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g), the Standing Committee on Public Accounts has the honour to present its |
| THIRD REPORT |
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On 11 March 2004, the Auditor General of Canada, Mrs. Sheila Fraser, together with the Assistant Auditor General, Mr. David Rattray, appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to present the results of the February 2004 Peer Review on the Office of the Auditor General and to table a copy of the Review and the Auditor General’s Management Action Plan. |
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In February 2003, the Office of the Auditor General asked members of the international audit community if they would be interested in participating in a review of the Office’s value-for-money (VFM) audit practice. The purpose of the review was to assess the extent to which this practice is designed to reflect recognized standards of professional VFM audit practices and whether it is operating effectively to meet the Office’s goal of producing independent, objective, and supportable information that Parliament can rely on to examine the government’s performance and hold it to account. The peer review team was formed in early 2003 and included members of the international audit community from the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and France. The General Accounting Office of the United States participated as an observer. The peer review was conducted between June and November 2003 and was completed in February 2004. |
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Mrs. Fraser was pleased to announce to the Committee that the results of the peer review were very positive. The report concluded that the Office’s VFM audit practice was suitably designed and operating effectively to achieve the Office’s value-for-money objectives. The peer review also identified a number of good practices in the Office’s VFM process and quality management framework. The peer review report also identified a number of opportunities for improvement in some of the Office’s value-for-money policies and practices and suggested some possible areas of solution in which the Office should take into account to improve its VFM products. Mrs. Fraser told the Committee that her Office would respond to these issues and tabled the Office’s Management Action Plan for addressing the suggestions made by the Peer Review Report. Both the Peer Review Report and the Management Action Plan are already available on the Office’s website and Mrs. Fraser believed that it may be possible for the Public Accounts Committee to table the report in the House of Commons. Mrs. Fraser further suggested that if Committee members wished to have the opportunity to examine the results of the Peer Review Report, that it could be combined it with a hearing on the 2004 Report on Plans and Priorities that is expected to be tabled in Parliament later in the Spring of 2004 (9:1000). |
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Having considered the Peer Review Report, the Committee wishes to inform the House of Commons that it passed a Motion agreeing to present a Committee report that would allow the tabling in Parliament of the Peer Review Report and the Office of the Auditor General’s Management Action Plan (9:1005). |
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The Committee is very pleased to be informed of the results of the Peer Review Report. Having independent and external confirmation of the soundness of the Office’s value-for-money practices provides additional assurances about the integrity of the accountability process of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and adds credibility to its efforts to provide objective, supportable and reliable information on the administration of government programs and activities. |
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The Committee wishes to emphasize the excellent work that the Auditor General and her Office consistently provides in supporting all Parliamentarians in their efforts to hold Government to account. Canadians can take a great pride in knowing that the Office of the Auditor General has set and maintained high standards of professionalism and dedication to its responsibilities. |
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The Peer Review Report and the Management Action Plan are appended to this report. |
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A copy of the relevant Minutes of Proceedings (Meetings Nos. 9 and 12) is tabled. |
| Respectfully submitted, |
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JOHN WILLIAMS, M.P. Chair |