Overview of the mandate of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Overview of the mandate of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada

27 February 2020

Sylvain Ricard, Chartered Professional AccountantCPA, Chartered AccountantCA
Interim Auditor General of Canada

Mr. Chair, we are pleased to have this opportunity to present an overview of the mandate of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. With me today are Andrew Hayes, Deputy Auditor General and Interim Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development; Karen Hogan, Assistant Auditor General responsible for financial audits and Martin Dompierre, Assistant Auditor General responsible for performance audits.

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada supports Parliament and territorial legislatures by providing independent and objective information, advice, and assurance about government financial statements and the management of government programs. The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development supports the Auditor General in carrying out the parts of our mandate that relate to the environment and sustainable development.

We conduct all of our audits in accordance with Canadian Auditing Standards. Our audits and our System of Quality Control are subject to internal practice reviews and to independent external reviews to provide assurance that you can rely on the quality of our work.

In this regard, we have recently provided your Committee with the results of an international peer review on the work of our office. That review was commissioned by the late Auditor General, Michael Ferguson and was led by the Office of the Auditor General of South Africa.

We are pleased to inform you that the review team found that our Office adhered to relevant legislation and professional standards in the execution of its mandate and that our system of quality control was suitably designed and effectively implemented.

Our Office helps to advance legislative audit methodology and accounting and auditing standards, and we work nationally and internationally to build audit capacity and to promote better-managed and accountable public sector institutions.

Let me now turn to the presentation of our Office’s mandate and products. We provided you with a presentation for your reference and I will now speak about some key elements.

DECK PRESENTATION (not available)

In conclusion, Mr. Chair, the Office of the Auditor General is looking forward to working with your Committee. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.