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For the purpose of the Modern Comptrollership Initiative, the term "small agencies" refers to federal government Agencies, Boards and Commissions with less than 300 Full-Time Equivalent Employees (FTEs). There are over 65 small agencies in the federal government; many have an annual budget of less than $25 million.
From environmental assessment to transportation safety, small agencies perform a wide range of investigatory, regulatory and quasi-judicial roles. Despite their relatively small size in both staff and budgets, these organizations have an impact on the health, safety and quality of life of Canadians, the citizens' recourse to perceived unfairness and inequity, and the competitiveness of Canadian industry.
While the specific characteristics of small agencies vary substantially from one agency to the next, most share some key features that influence the implementation of Modern Comptrollership. These include:
- Small staff complements and staff with multiple responsibilities (compared to the more discrete roles and responsibilities of staff in large organizations)
- Small budget size limiting the ability to reallocate resources internally and to make the changes necessary to ensure modern management practices are fully integrated into the organization
- Informal structures (while in large organizations formal structures and systems are implemented to ensure modern comptrollership, financial and human resources pressures often preclude such infrastructure to be implemented in smaller organizations).
Given that the challenge of reallocating scarce resources is significant in smaller organizations and the burden of reporting acute, special attention has been given to this community. To facilitate modern comptrollership implementation in small agencies we have:
- Financially assisted small agencies in getting started in their modern comptrollership implementation efforts
- Established two groups to provide strategic leadership, advice and guidance on the implementation of modernization activities in small agencies
- Created guides and tools targeted for this community
To find out more click on the following links
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