7.0 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING - FINANCIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS (ANNEX G - H - I - J)

7.1 Scope

The requirement to provide INAC with a Schedule of Federal Government Funding Schedule applies to First Nations, Tribal Councils and First Nation Political Organizations.

The following Transfer Payments are to be included in the Schedule:

• Transfer Payments directly received from any federal government department; and
• Transfer Payments that have flowed through another organization and that have ultimately been transferred to a Recipient. This funding must be traceable to a federal government funding source.

The amounts transferred to recipients for Comprehensive, Specific and other claims settlements are not to be included in the Schedule.

7.2 Background

The Government of Canada acknowledges and respects the confidentiality of the Recipient's consolidated audited financial statements.

However, Canada is accountable for the public funds it administers. The release of the following information to the general public respecting where public funds have been spent will serve to inform of the many programs and services delivered by the recipient. Therefore, all recipients referred to in Section 7.1 that receive Transfer Payments must report on and disclose their use of federal government funding in the format described in 7.3 or 7.4. The option described in Section 7.4 is considered the minimum level of disclosure respecting the use of public funds.

7.3 Disclosure with Consolidated Financial Statements

If a recipient prefers full disclosure to the public of its consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with the YERH instead of preparing a separate financial schedule as outlined in 7.4, then the recipient must accompany its financial statements with a signed Band Council Resolution, Chief's Resolution or other similar document authorizing the Government of Canada to disclose the information to the general public.

The information requirements set out in Sections 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6 of the YERH are not mandatory for public disclosure using this option. The choice to omit this information must be signified through the signed Band Council Resolution, Chief's Resolution or other similar document that is submitted to INAC.

7.4 Instructions for Preparing the Schedule

The schedule contained in Annex G must be prepared in the following manner:

1. Amounts must be broken out by individual federal government department which fund the recipient.

2. For purposes of this schedule, amounts relating to each of the federal government departments may be presented using the federal government program and service categories set out in Annexes H through J. A similar level of detailed program reporting framework may also be used if it is considered a more accurate description of the Recipient's activities. For federal government departments that are not detailed in Annexes H through J, only the total amounts relating to that federal government department may be presented. Recipients who wish to expand on the detail or explanation of the funding and related expenditures may do so. This expanded detail may include reporting by types of expenditures under each program area or explanatory notes to the Schedule.

3. The Schedule must contain all of the following categories:

   • Federal Funding Received: Total federal government funding received in the current year for that specific program or service category. In instances where funding is provided to a recipient under a "block funded transfer payment", the amount should be presented in the program or service area where it has been budgeted/allocated by the recipient.

   • Unexpended Funding - Beginning of Year: Total of unexpended amounts of federal government funding received in prior years. This amount may include surplus amounts retained by recipients, amounts due to the federal government that have not yet been reimbursed at the beginning of the year or deferred revenue at the beginning of the year, where permitted under the funding agreement.

   • Adjustments/Transfers: Amounts of funding received that have been transferred from/to eligible programs and services where permitted under the funding agreement. This column may also include amounts that have been reimbursed to the federal government.

   • Total Funding Available: Total of "Federal Funding Received", "Unexpended Funding - Beginning of Year" and "Adjustments".

   • Expenditures are to be presented using either the "Funding Expended" or the "Total Expenditures From All Sources" options detailed below. This presentation must be consistently applied to all programs and the option should be clearly identified.

     • When using the "Funding Expended" option to present expenditures, the "Funding Expended" should be equivalent to the total federal government funding spent in the program or service area. When using this option, the total amount of "Funding Expended" must never exceed the "Total Funding Available".

     • When using the "Total Expenditures From All Sources" option to present expenditures, the "Total Expenditures From All Sources" must be equivalent to the recipient's total yearly expenditures for each program and service area in which federal government funding was received. When using this option, there are instances where the "Total Expenditures From All Sources" will exceed the "Total Funding Available" since some own-source revenue may have been used to fund the program or service.

   • Unexpended Funding - End of Year: Total of unexpended amounts of federal government funding at the end of the year. This amount may include surplus amounts retained by recipients, amounts due to the federal government at the end of the fiscal year or deferred revenue, where permitted under the funding agreement. When using the option of "Total expenditures from All Sources" detailed above, this column is not required.

4. The Schedule must be accompanied by one of the following auditor's attestations:

   • a separate auditor's report;

   • an auditor's review engagement report; or

   • an auditor's derivative report containing, at a minimum, the following elements:

     • that the auditor has audited and reported separately on the consolidated financial statements;

     • that an audit was conducted for the purpose of forming an opinion on the consolidated financial statements taken as a whole;

     • that the attached supplementary information is presented for purposes of additional information and does not form part of the consolidated financial statements; and

     • that the schedule has been subjected to the auditing procedures applied to the audit of the consolidated financial statements taken as a whole.

The auditor's attestation should not limit in any way the Government of Canada's ability to publicly disclose the Schedule of Federal Funding to the general public.

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