2002 December Report of the Auditor General of Canada

1962

Royal Commission on Government Organization (Glassco Commission)

"An accounting system, capable of facilitating decision making by management, should provide complete costs of activities." Such a system will then lead to improved decision making.

1979

Royal Commission on Financial Management and Accountability (Lambert Commission)

"Comprehensive cost-based accounting systems should be developed and used in all federal departments and agencies, and these systems should meet the criteria of capturing all costs on a timely and accurate basis and be integrated with costing systems capable of analyzing the data thus obtained."

1987

Office of the Auditor General, Financial Management and Control Study

Current information for managers tells them where they stand in relation to their budget, but not the cost effectiveness of their operations. Although operational data are available, they can rarely be related to financial data so as to determine the costs of specific operations. The concept underlying financial management is that objectives, results, and resources should be linked.

1997

Independent Review Panel on Modernization of Comptrollership in the Government of Canada

"The Panel believes modern comptrollership is about ensuring that management decision making has the benefit of rigorous, complete and integrated financial and non-financial, historical and prospective performance information as well as appropriate advice, analysis and interpretation of this information."