Opening Statement before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
2021–22 Departmental Results Report and 2023–24 Departmental Plan of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada
8 May 2023
Karen Hogan, Fellow Chartered Professional AccountantFCPA
Auditor General of Canada
Mr. Chair, we are pleased to have this opportunity to discuss our office’s work, including our most recent departmental reports. I would like to acknowledge that this hearing is taking place on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. With me today are Andrew Hayes, Deputy Auditor General, Paule‑Anny Pierre, Assistant Auditor General of Strategic Planning, and Vicki Clement, Acting Chief Financial Officer.
The Office of the Auditor General of Canada serves Canada through leadership and partnerships in audits that support trust in public institutions and continued public service excellence. We do this by providing Parliament and territorial legislatures with 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 assists me by conducting reviews and audits according to his areas of expertise.
We also support the development of legislative audit methodology and accounting and auditing standards, and we contribute to improving public sector auditing internationally.
2021–22 Departmental Results Report
I want to first provide you with some of the highlights of our accomplishments in 2021–22, as presented in our Departmental Results Report. We provided this report to Parliament in December 2022. Of significance in 2021–22, my office dealt with a long and difficult strike.
As shown in our financial statements, our net operating cost was $126.1 million, and we employed the equivalent of 727 full-time employees. With these resources, we reported on 12 performance audits and 3 special examinations of Crown corporations. In addition to some performance audit reports, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development delivered the annual report on environmental petitions, the review of departmental progress in implementing sustainable development strategies, and a report on lessons learned from Canada’s record on climate change.
In addition, we launched our Update on Past Audits. This interactive dashboard provides a snapshot of the progress that selected departments and agencies have made in areas we previously audited. You can find it on our website.
We also audited the financial statements of 90 federal and territorial government organizations and Crown corporations, including those of the Public Accounts of Canada. We issued clean opinions on 86 of these financial statements. We also presented our annual commentary on our financial audit work.
In our Departmental Results Report, you will find indicators of the impact of our work. The level of parliamentary engagement with our performance audit reports is one of these. Overall, parliamentary committees reviewed 80% of our reports in 2021–22, up from 61% in the previous year. There were 34 committee appearances focusing on the work of our office. I want to thank the Standing Committee on Public Accounts for reviewing all of the performance audits that we referred to it during the year, as well as two reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.
During the year, we also continued to review and renew how and where we work. For example, we launched modernization efforts and started laying the groundwork for our transition to a hybrid workplace, including converting some of our existing office space to follow a hotelling model.
2023–24 Departmental Plan
I would like to turn now to our Main Estimates and Departmental Plan for the 2023–24 fiscal year. In this plan, we introduce our updated departmental results framework. This framework provides revised departmental results and the indicators we will use to measure our progress in delivering these results.
Our total budget is $122.6 million for the 2023–24 fiscal year. With these resources, we plan to employ the equivalent of 765 full‑time employees.
During this period, we plan to issue 89 financial audits, 6 special examinations, and 25 performance audits. This includes the audits that Parliament has requested on the government’s ArriveCan application and on the use of contracts for professional services. We will also deliver all other reports that are required annually in the environment and sustainable development portfolio.
We will also be working on several large initiatives that are already underway in our office. They include our transformation journey and adapting our workspaces and systems. Managers have been back in the workplace for at least 37.5 hours each month since January 2023, and other employees will return as of June 1. Enhancing the value of our audits and better understanding stakeholder needs remain priorities for us.
Mr. Chair, I could not be prouder of everyone in my office. My colleagues are engaged and motivated to make a difference for Canadians.
We thank the committee for its ongoing support and use of our work. We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.