TBS Organization - Office of the Comptroller General

• Comptroller General of Canada (Biography)
• Mandate and Ongoing Priorities
  • Key Priorities for Internal Audit
  • Key Priorities for Financial Management and Analysis
  • Key Priorities for Financial Systems Acceptance and Authority
  • Key Priorities for Capacity Building and Community Development
• Expected results, milestones, and time frames
  • Strengthen Internal Audit
  • Strengthen Financial Management
• Internal Audit Web Site
• Financial Management On Line Web Site
  • Capacity Building and Community Development

On December 12, 2003, the Prime Minister announced the re-establishment of the Comptroller General of Canada within the Treasury Board Secretariat as a key element in strengthening government-wide comptrollership and oversight, particularly the areas of financial management and audit. The Comptroller General will oversee government spending, provide leadership across the public service to the financial management and internal audit communities, and ensure standards are set and observed. This announcement can be found at http://pm.gc.ca/eng/accountability.asp.

Mandate and Ongoing Priorities

The Comptroller General is responsible for providing government-wide functional direction and assurance for financial management and internal audit. Through the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG) and its operating sectors / directorates, which have policy centre mandates, ongoing activities are conducted in the following priority areas:

• Promoting stronger financial and audit controls that are essential to ensuring rigorous stewardship of public funds and value for money;
• Setting and reviewing financial, accounting and auditing standards and policies for the Government of Canada and providing leadership to ensure and enforce appropriate financial controls and cultivate sound resource stewardship at all levels across the federal public service;
• Nurturing and managing the professional development of the financial and internal audit communities;
• Leading the introduction of modern, timely, "enterprise-wide" financial information systems to track all spending and provide appropriate tools for effective scrutiny and decision-making;
• Overseeing government spending, including review and sign-off on new spending initiatives, and monitoring and reporting on how well financial management and internal audit are being managed in departments and agencies;
• Providing guidance for the preparation of departmental financial statements and the Public Accounts of Canada; and
• Providing ongoing financial management and internal audit, advice and support to the President, the Secretary, TBS Branches and Sectors, Deputy Ministers, other central agencies & functional specialists.

In addition to meeting these ongoing priorities, the OCG has been given a number of other key priorities, which include the following items.

Strengthening Internal Audit

Key Priorities for Internal Audit:

It is the Government's intention to, " reorganize and bolster the internal audit function on a government-wide basis to ensure comprehensive audit programs, based on sound risk analysis of all departmental activities, with the authority to delve into every corner of every portfolio, no matter how small or seemingly "special."

1. Develop a revised Internal Audit Policy and protocols for Audit Committees and for Chief Audit Executives. This includes addressing legal issues and producing communications products.
2. Develop governance and protocols for both the provision of internal audit services to Small Departments and Agencies and also for enterprise-wide risk profiling related to the first OCG-lead government-wide horizontal audit.
3. Develop protocols for accountability reporting; select standardized internal audit methodologies and tools; complete one internal OCG-led; government-wide horizontal audit; and implement a multi-year internal audit co-sourcing strategy.
4. Complete the initial wave of audits for small departments and agencies.
5. Develop three-year plans: a) for audits of small departments and agencies and b) for government-wide horizontal audits.
6. Establish a capacity within the OCG to perform periodic practice inspection for quality assessment of departmental internal audit functions.
7. Resolve classification issues relating to internal audit.

Strengthening Financial Management

Key Priorities for Financial Management and Analysis:

It is the Government's intention for the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG) to, "rigorously oversee all aspects of government spending." To this end the OCG will strengthen financial management by providing leadership to ensure appropriate frameworks; policies and guidance on controls are available across the federal public service.

Put in place:

1. Policies, processes and criteria for the establishment of a new financial management regime that includes Chief Financial Officers in all organizations, using models appropriate to the relative size and complexity of each organization.
2. Policies, processes and criteria for review and sign-off of new spending proposals, including monitoring and reporting provisions.
3. Policies, processes and criteria for ongoing annual audit of financial statements of departments and agencies.
4. A revised financial management control framework.
5. An updated suite of financial management policies in concert with the Secretariat's priority to streamline and consolidate the Treasury Board policy suite.

Key Priorities for Financial Systems Acceptance and Authority:

It is the government's intention to, "introduce modern, real-time information systems to track all spending and provide appropriate tools for effective scrutiny and decision making". To enable the necessary improvements to financial management - described earlier and promote the transparency and openness of financial activity, the OCG will ensure that financial management systems in departments and central agencies, including systems for accounting, asset management, procurement, are significantly strengthened.

1. Put in place the policies, processes and criteria required to enable the OCG to more fully exercise the role of business owner of financial systems within the Government of Canada.
2. In conjunction with the Chief Information Officer Branch, review and provide a description of the accountability and control frameworks for common administrative services system development and configuration and report back to Treasury Board Ministers.
3. Determine the specific administrative areas that will need to be supported by the Government of Canada's new financial systems.
4. Develop associated business processes and standards for data and information, and implement these in selected departments and agencies.

Contributing to Core Learning

Key Priorities for Capacity Building and Community Development:

It is the Government's intention to, "appoint professionally accredited comptrollers to sign off on all new spending initiatives in every government department" In concert with this announcement and the TBS initiative to strengthen public service capacity, the OCG has been given the mandate to nurture and manage professional development of the financial management and internal audit communities, including establishing accreditation and certification standards and advising on the modules of public service learning curriculum.

1. Obtain approval for certification standards for Chief Financial Officers.
2. Develop certification standards for Chief Audit Executives.
3. Develop a core learning strategy for financial management and internal audit.
4. Conduct internal audit demographic profiles.
5. Develop a strategy for advanced education / training for financial management and related issues by non-financial managers and officers.
6. Conduct internal audit gap analysis and develop an implementation plan to provide various analysis strategies.
7. Begin implementing strategies to recruit and train accredited Chief Financial Officers and Chief Audit Executives to meet certification standards, using a phased approach.