Letter to Sponsors - Interim Suspension on Mandatory Audits
February 2006
Dear Sponsor,
In January 2006 Service Canada announced a first round of administrative changes to the way employment related grants and contribution programs are administered. Service Canada is continuing to work on ways to streamline and simplify how we work with our community partners delivering employment related projects. In line with our goal of reducing the administrative burden so that we can all dedicate more time and energy on providing important services to clients in our communities, we are working to streamline our mandatory project audit requirements.
As announced during the first round of changes implemented in January, a streamlined Mandatory Project Audit Directive is expected to come into effect in April 2006. We will make the details of the changes available to you as soon as we can. The purpose of this letter is to inform you that effective immediately and until further notice, there is a temporary suspension on mandatory project audits of contribution agreements.
Changes During the Interim Suspension of Mandatory Project Audits
1. The mandatory project audit clause will not be used in any new agreements until the new Audit Directive is in place. Similarly, funding for project audits will not be provided for in new agreements affected by the temporary suspension. Please note that all agreements include the generic audit clauses included in the Articles of Agreement and this does not change.
2. Agreements already in place and that include a project audit requirement will not be subject to an audit for the interim. If an audit has already been scheduled and a firm has been contracted to conduct the audit, the audit may go ahead; however, if your project audit is not already scheduled, you should refrain from scheduling the audit until further notice. Once the audit requirements have been streamlined and the changes implemented, these agreements may be subject to an audit. If required, current agreements containing funds for project audits can now be amended to remove those funds.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this change or how it may affect your agreement(s).
Sincerely,
SCC PROGRAMS OFFICER/MANAGER NAME