Audit of the Pacific Region
July 1996
Executive Summary
The audit of the Pacific Region focused on the finance, administration and personnel functions. It was the first regional audit conducted since the 1993 merger of Industry, Science and Technology Canada, Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada, Investment Canada and parts of Communications Canada.
Auditors found that, while the financial, administrative and personnel functions are generally well managed and controlled, there are opportunities for improvements within each function. The key themes and control issues are as follows:
Financial and Administrative Management
The role of regional Corporate Services in monitoring the financial, administrative and personnel procedures in Responsibility Centres (RCs) is not clear – particularly regarding RCs that do not report to the EXD.
The processing and approval of payments can be made less cumbersome by implementing more efficient account verification procedures and monitoring.
Policy and procedure manuals in the region are generally out-of-date and the communication of updates and revisions needs to be improved for easy access by personnel.
The recording of expenditure commitments is inconsistent across the Region, resulting in the lack of complete and timely information available in RAMS for analysis and decision-making.
Management of Revenues
Procedures for mail opening, recording of cash receipts and making deposits need to be strengthened in order to reduce the risk of loss of monies.
Various problems were identified with repayable contributions including delinquent cases not being followed up, files not being up-to-date, and lack of repayment schedules, which all point to the need to provide a better basis for monitoring and follow-up regarding monies owing to the Crown.
Procurement and Assets
Professional services contracts were generally found to lack documentation regarding need for the work, method of sourcing the professional services, reasons for sole-sourcing, method for establishing a price, and post-completion assessment of the contractors' work.
Custody and control of assets need improvement. The Departmental Asset Management Information System is not up-to-date and new bar code labels are not yet on older equipment for purposes of easier verification and tracking.
Fleet Management
Various weaknesses were found including use of unmarked vehicles without appropriate approval, incomplete vehicle logs, inconsistent reporting of odometer readings and vehicle expenses, incomplete information for monitoring the use and costs of the fleet, and overnight use of vehicles without evidence of RC manager approval.
Human Resource Management
Leave and attendance recording needs strengthening. RCs maintain their own informal information records of leave, attendance and overtime and these are not necessarily reflected in, or reconciled to the reporting capability of the official departmental system: Peoplesoft.
Official Languages
There were no findings. The Region is encouraged to continue its efforts in support of the Official Languages Act.
Management Action Taken
By acting upon the recommendations of the 1996 audit of the Pacific Region, the Region's accountability framework has been strengthened.
- The role of Corporate Services in monitoring financial, administrative and personnel procedures has been clarified. Corporate Services now conducts on-site monitoring at each IC location every two years, including a thorough review of all financial and administrative procedures. This monitoring policy has provided benefits for account verification; for the accurate tracking of mail, cash receipts and deposits; and for fleet management.
- The need for the Pacific Region to keep up-to-date policy and procedure manuals has been superseded by the use of the Internet to communicate general departmental and Treasury Board policies.
- The Region's new financial management system (IFMS) provides for complete and timely information for analysis and decision-making, as it automatically creates expenditure commitments in the system whenever a purchase order or contract is created.
- There are no repayable contribution agreements currently being managed by IC's Pacific Region. Any active repayable contributions date from Economic Regional Development Agreements (ERDAs) or Economic Development Agreements (EDAs), entered into by the departments that preceded the formation of IC. The Province of British Columbia or the Yukon Territorial Goverment are responsible for ensuring the repayment of loans made under these programs.
- Professional services contracts are now reviewed annually, and designated contracting managers receive regular guidance and advice.
- Our asset management systems are up-to-date, and inventory records have been fully verified and reconciled.
- Recording systems for personal leave and attendance have been strengthened, with managers responsible for ensuring that individual employees report leave on official forms. Leave statements are issued and verified annually.
Date Created: 2000-03-03
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