PACP Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Public Accounts |
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Comité permanent des comptes publics |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
AUDITOR GENERAL ABLE TO FULFILL MANDATE BUT FURTHER BUDGET REDUCTIONS MAY LEAD TO FEWER PERFORMANCE AUDITS
Ottawa, June 08, 2015 -
OTTAWA – The Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) is able to fulfill its statutory mandate with its current budget, but further budget reductions may lead to the production of fewer performance audits, according to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ report presented today in the House of Commons by Committee Chair David Christopherson.
As the Standing Committee on Public Accounts has a role to play on behalf of Parliament and Canadians in holding the OAG to account for its past performance and future plans, it reviews the OAG’s departmental performance report and its report on plans and priorities in conjunction with its consideration of the OAG’s main estimates.
With respect to past performance, the OAG determined that departments and agencies had made satisfactory progress in addressing five of ten recommendations reviewed in follow-up audits. Also, while the number of performance audits reviewed by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts has remained consistent with the previous two years, the percentage of the OAG’s performance audits reviewed by parliamentary committees has declined, from 57% in 2008–2009 to 24% in 2013–2014.
Looking forward to 2015–2016, the OAG has set several strategic objectives as priority areas for improvement in internal management, such as defining new senior management roles and responsibilities and empowering employees.
The OAG has reduced its financial and human resources requirements in the past several years while continuing to fulfill its statutory audit mandate, in part by reducing the number of financial audits conducted and by making significant reductions in support services. However, the Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson, informed the Committee that any further budget reductions may lead to fewer performance audits being produced than have been completed in the past.
Lastly, the OAG has a three-year planning process in place for its performance audit practice, which limits its ability to incorporate new audits, but it had sufficient flexibility to conduct an extensive audit of senators’ expenses.
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