Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

2008–09 Industry Canada and Transport Canada Departmental Performance Reports, and
Rating Selected Departmental Performance Reports

13 May 2010 

Neil Maxwell,
Assistant Auditor General

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to appear before the Committee to discuss two departmental performance reports, and Chapter 5 of the April 2005 Report. With me is Tom Wileman, the Principal responsible for this area.

I wish to thank the Committee for this opportunity and would like to emphasize that my comments today are about the overall importance of performance reporting to Parliament. The Office has not audited in recent years the departmental performance reports of either of the departments appearing before you today. Therefore I will not be commenting on those reports.

Mr. Chair, the provision of information for to Parliament has been a long-standing interest of the Office. It is essential for accountability to Parliament and requires that departments and agencies report results using sound performance measurement and reporting practices.  

In earlier audits of departmental performance reports, we rated departmental performance reports of selected departments. We found that reports to Parliament were not providing a fully satisfactory basis for accountability, and that progress in improving them was disappointingly slow.

It must be recognized that performance reporting takes place in a political environment. Balanced reporting, that is, admitting to shortcomings as well as successes, does not yet appear to be part of the management culture of government.

In those audits, we looked for clear information about programs and about the commitments made. We asked whether key results were reported against objectives, whether the information was reliable, and if it presented the bad as well as the good news. We also asked whether the information was used to improve operations. These questions are as important now as they were at the time these audits were performed.

Although we have not conducted audits focused exclusively on departmental performance reports since 2005, we have made comments about reporting to Parliament in audits of specific departmental programs. We have found many weaknesses, including inadequate information on costs, standards, and performance.

While departments are responsible for their reports, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat plays an important role in providing leadership and opportunities to increase the understanding and acceptance of the principles and practices of good performance reporting. The Secretariat’s annual guidelines encourage the preparation of concise, coherent, reliable, and balanced accounts of performance. Your Committee might reasonably expect the reports to be applying these principles.

Parliament, too, plays an important role. Interest in and scrutiny of the reports by parliamentary committees, as your committee is demonstrating today, helps encourage departments to improve the quality of their performance reports.

That concludes my opening statement. We would be pleased to answer any questions that the Committee may have.