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Bulletin sent to Senior Financial Officers


DATE: May 17th, 2007

TO: Senior Financial Officers

SUBJECT: 2006-07 Departmental Performance Reports

This bulletin provides information on Departmental Performance Reports (DPR) for the period ending March 31, 2007, including the updated Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2006-07 Estimates.

Please note that this year's deadline for submission of your DPR to the Treasury Board Secretariat is September 26th, 2007. The tabling date in the House of Commons will be confirmed and communicated in an upcoming information update.

Since these reports are the primary instruments of accountability to Parliament and Canadians, your DPR must present clear, concise, balanced and reliable information about the results achieved with the resources entrusted to your organization. It must also present strong linkages to the 2006-07 Report and Plans and Priorities (RPP), by reporting performance against expected results articulated in the RPP. The DPR should assist parliamentarians in their role of holding the government to account for voted appropriations and support their engagement in an ongoing accountability dialogue.

The Guide to the Preparation of Part III of the 2006-07 Estimates, Reports on Plans and Priorities was initially published in December 2005 on the TBS Website to support the preparation of the 2006-07 RPPs. Updates have occurred since that time and the attached guidance includes the most recent updates to the DPR section and other sections of the guide. Additional information about this year's updates is provided in Annex 1.

To ensure their currency, TBS continually re-examines its reporting principles in light of new standards, principles, or general guidance offered to practitioners. In order to assist you in preparing your DPR, the section on Government of Canada Reporting Principles has been revised to underline the consistency between these principles and the Statement of Recommended Practices (SORP – 2) issued in September 2006 by the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA).

This section of the guidance has also been expanded to better articulate how the Management, Resources and Results Structure (MRRS) is the basis of reporting for the RPP and DPR. Since the 2005-06 reporting cycle, performance reported in the DPR must present the department's performance based on the Strategic Outcome(s) and Program Activity Architecture approved by the Treasury Board (TB) for that period and reflect how the department allocated and managed the resources under its control to achieve expected results.

Revisions have also been made to several policy tables in 'Section III Supplementary Information' including the removal of the requirement to report on Alternative Service Delivery. In 2005-06, five special tables were linked to electronic DPR versions only. This year an additional six tables will be linked electronically through the DPR instead of being included in the paper version.  For additional details, please refer to Annex A of this call letter and to the 'What's New' section in the guidance. 

In order to assist organizations with the preparation of the 2006-07 DPRs, information sessions will be held Tuesday, May 22nd, May 29th and June 5th from 1:00pm to 3:30 pm, 2007. All sessions will be held in meeting room 8E, 8th floor, East Tower, Esplanade Laurier, 140 O'Connor St., Ottawa. Your staff may pre-register by sending an e-mail to zzlkm@tbs-sct.gc.ca and the TBS Learning and Knowledge Management team will contact them with all the details for the session.

Thank you for your continued cooperation.

David Moloney

Senior Assistant Secretary
Expenditure Management Sector
Treasury Board Secretariat

Annex 1

To assist you with the preparation of your DPR, detailed guidelines are available at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rma/dpr3/06-07/index_e.asp.

We encourage your staff to regularly visit the 2006-07 DPR web page to stay informed of any up-dates regarding the preparation of 2006-07 DPRs. As in the past, TBS will continue to provide advice and assistance to departments and agencies to the extent possible and coordinate printing and tabling of the reports.

What's New in the DPR section of the Guide to the Preparation of Part III of the 2006–07 Estimates

  1. The section on Effective Public Reporting and Reporting Principles has been renamed "Government of Canada Reporting Principles", and has been modified to show the consistency between Government of Canada Reporting Principles and the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP-2) issued in September 2006 by the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). This section provides increased guidance to departments on how to apply Government of Canada reporting principles in the development of departmental reports.
  2. TBS continues to encourage departments to report survey results appropriately in DPRs as per Chapter 2: Quality and Reporting of Surveys in the November 2005 Report of the Auditor General of Canada http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.nsf/html/20051102ce.html. Further instructions are provided under Principle 2: Present credible, reliable, and balanced information.

Section I: Departmental Overview

  1. The Management Representation Statement has been modified to provide more clarity about how the document has been prepared and to acknowledge that it has been based on the Treasury Board approved Strategic Outcome(s) and PAA.
  2. Reminder: Departments must report in the DPR using the same PAA as was used in their 2006-07 RPP. In exceptional cases where departments are not able to report performance using the PAA from their 2006-07 RPP, departments must provide a crosswalk that compares the PAA used in the 2006-07 RPP to the one being reported on in the DPR. Further instructions are provided in Section I.
  3. Departmental Performance for the DPR – Departments must discuss how their strategic outcomes and program activities align with the Government of Canada outcome areas, as reported in Canada's Performance [1]. For more information, see the section entitled "Summary Information for the DPR".

Section III: Supplementary Information

  1. Departments are no longer required to report through the DPR on Alternative Service Delivery (ASD).The Policy on ASD is no longer in effect.
  2. Table 10: Major Regulatory Initiatives has been renamed "Progress Against the Department's Regulatory Plan", and has been modified in accordance with the "Framework for the Triage of Regulatory Submissions" effective July 1, 2006.
  3. Table 15: Since 2005–2006, financial statements for all departments, including revolving funds financial statements, must be inserted in each DPR. In the case of revolving funds financial statements, providing an electronic link in the DPR to the revolving funds financial statements posted on the departmental website is sufficient[2].
  4. Table 20: The table that was previously named "Service Improvement Initiative" has been renamed  "Client-Centred Service".
  5. As of 2006-07, several supplementary information tables will no longer be included in the print copy of the DPR:
    • Table 9B:User Fees (Template B, Policy on Service Standards for External Fees);
    • Table 10: Progress Against the Department's Regulatory Plan  (formerly "Major Regulatory Initiatives");
    • Table 18: Procurement and Contracting;
    • Table 19: Client-Centred Service  (formerly "Service Improvement");
    • Table 21: Travel Policy;
    • Table 22: Storage Tanks.

    These special tables are to be submitted to TBS as required, for electronic posting as per the "What to Submit" instructions under the "General Information" section of these guidelines. Please note that these changes in reporting requirements for the supplementary information tables will also be reflected for the 2008-09 RPPs.

    Departments should continue to provide information in the printed DPR on where the tables may be accessed as per the instructions found in this guide.

General

  1. A suite of templates is available on the Secretariat's web site to help reduce departmental workload and to ensure that a consistent structure is followed. However, their use is not mandatory. Once selected, the templates can be uploaded onto your computer in MS Word or WordPerfect. You can then fill in the appropriate sections, delete any unnecessary tables and/or information,or make any appropriate adjustments to meet your reporting needs.
  2. It is recommended that departments follow the structure outlined in the "RPP and DPR Document Structures" section. This will ensure that readers can find the same type of information in the same sections across all RPP and DPR documents.
  3. Departments are reminded that when reporting financial information in the RPP and DPR, particularly in the financial tables, it is important to indicate whether the information is being reported in the millions or thousands of dollars. The denomination chosen must be used consistently throughout the report.
  4. Instructions on submitting your PDF version and the printing of your document have been modified. Please refer to "What to Submit" under the General Information section.
  5. Due to time constraints, the Secretariat will not accept incomplete submissions. Timely tabling of information in Parliament requires that the dates provided be respected.  Necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the President of the Treasury Board fulfills his fundamental obligation to Parliament – including the possibility that departments may be requested to make their own tabling arrangements for their Minister in the event that they are unable to meet the Secretariat production schedule.  Your submission should consist of:
    • A one-sided signed submission with an original signature (paper copy);
    • Three paper copies (in each official language);
    • A print order form;
    • Two PDF files with all fonts embedded (one in each official language); and
    • Four HTML files:
      • two HTML files with the complete document (one in each official language);
      • two HTML files with the special tables (one in each official language).
  6. Departments that are required to have their 2006-07 DPRs reviewed by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) before they are submitted to TBS are required to submit the Camera-ready, PDF and HTML formats of their DPR to the OAG for review by the deadlines set by the OAG. After the OAG has provided the Auditor's Report for the DPR, there should be no further changes made to the  DPR before it is submitted to TBS.

Other Special Requirements

  1. Invoices for the printing of the 2006-07 DPRs will be paid through the Secretariat. Organizational costs will be recovered from individual Departments/Agencies using the Interdepartmental Settlement (IS) process.
    1. In order to ensure that the IS transactions run smoothly it is recommended that you provide your coding to the Secretariat's Financial Services Division (Attention: FIN/TBS IS Coordinator) by fax at 947-4461 or by e-mail at FIN/TBSISCoordinator@fin.gc.ca.
    2. Departments will be charged for the printing cost of all copies produced of their respective report, including those sent to the House of Commons and Depository Services Program (library service). Departments will also be charged for any overtime costs related to late submissions. TBS will pay for copies required for its own stock.

Footnotes

[1] Departments should consult the "Whole of Government Framework Instructions" online at: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/mrrsp-psgrr/siglist_e.asp or contact the analyst responsible for Canada's Performance and the RPP Overview for Parliamentarians (see contact list at the end of the guide).

[2] For more information, see the instructions for DPR Table 15, Financial Statements of Departments and Agencies (including Agents of Parliament) and Revolving Funds Financial Statements.

 
Date Modified:  2007-05-17 Top of Page Important Notices