2023 Special Examination—Royal Canadian MintThe Royal Canadian Mint is well-managed, but some improvements are needed

Ottawa, 11 August 2023—The Royal Canadian Mint made public the report of a special examination completed by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. The corporation’s main responsibility is to produce, distribute, and recycle Canadian coins, thereby supporting the smooth operation of the country’s economy. The audit examined how the Royal Canadian Mint implemented its corporate management practices, ran its operations, and managed its organizational and digital transformation. The report concluded that the Crown corporation was well‑managed while highlighting areas for improvement.

The audit found that the corporation had good corporate management practices, including ensuring the independence of its board of directors and the competency of its members, and sound strategic planning and corporate performance management practices. The report flagged a weakness in risk mitigation, where there was a lack of clear timelines for mitigation actions.

In examining the management of the corporation’s operations, the audit found that the corporation generally managed its activities well, but improvements were needed in some areas, including information management. For example, the corporation did not have an information management and data governance policy, which meant employees had to exercise their own discretion to determine which measures they needed to use to manage information and data. This gap was previously raised both in internal audit reports and by third parties.

In 2020, the corporation launched an organizational and digital transformation. The audit found that the corporation needed to put more attention on leadership and project oversight, project management, and change management to achieve its transformation. For instance, the corporation’s transformation office had key human resources gaps and lacked a defined mandate and structure. This is important because the transformation office has a central role to play in supporting a large-scale transformation.

In summary, the corporation maintained its systems and practices to carry out its mandate, despite the weaknesses found by the audit.

A special examination is an audit of a federal Crown corporation conducted by the Auditor General of Canada. Under the Financial Administration Act, federal Crown corporations are subject to a special examination by the Auditor General at least once every 10 years. These audits examine the systems and practices of a Crown corporation that are key to providing it with reasonable assurance that its assets are safeguarded and controlled, its resources are managed economically and efficiently, and its operations are carried out effectively. Special examination reports are therefore a source of important information that parliamentarians can use to hold Crown corporations to account.

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The Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Board of Directors of the Royal Canadian Mint is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website.

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