Modern Comptrollership is a progressive step in the continuum of management improvement in the federal government. It is not about more control but rather about providing managers with tools and training to help prioritize, plan and meet operational goals. It goes beyond financial control and accounting; it involves all departmental employees and will necessitate some fundamental changes in the corporate culture of the public service. Modern Comptrollership is a key element in the implementation of Results for Canadians, a government-wide initiative designed to modernize the government's management framework.

The implementation of Modern Comptrollership involves a shift in emphasis from controls and compliance to results and values. Modern Comptrollership is built on four main principles: integrated performance measurement, mature risk management, rigorous stewardship and shared ethics and values. The principles are in turn built upon a strong foundation consisting of: strategic leadership, motivated people and clear accountability. These elements collectively form the basis of the Government's thrust to introduce modern management concepts to managers within the Public Service.

The audit was carried out while the Department was actively engaged in implementing Modern Comptrollership and updating its management practices. While the Modern Comptrollership initiative itself may be fairly new, many of its elements, such as the performance measurement and the need to establish effective operational controls, have been a long-standing requirement. It is against this backdrop that the audit was undertaken. As such, the audit expected to find an organization in which some of the elements of Modern Comptrollership (MC) would have already been entrenched within CRC. For other elements where we expected the pace of implementation would have been somewhat slower, mirroring that set out in the Department's action plan, the audit served to provide a snapshot of how well CRC was positioned to implement those MC elements.

The audit found several of the elements of modern management to be in place at the CRC. The organization has benefited from strong leadership, staff were found to be motivated and work is carried out in an atmosphere which supports core values and ethical behaviour. However, opportunities exist to strengthen certain Modern Comptrollership elements in order to effectively demonstrate sound management of public resources and value for money.

In particular, the audit noted that CRC has not yet implemented a performance measurement framework through which organizational performance is measured against goals and objectives. Further, CRC is not making use of existing departmental financial reporting tools and has instead relied upon internally developed "black book" systems and spreadsheet programs, which increases costs as well as the risk of making incorrect decisions.

CRC has not yet established formal processes and practices to manage risk and has not developed its own corporate risk profile. Managers have not yet received training in risk management concepts, techniques and controls and risk management practices have not been formally integrated into CRC's organizational policies, plans and practices. Whereas risks are informally assessed at a project level, there was no evidence of formal risk management practices being carried out at an operational or strategic level. At the time of audit, departmental efforts in the area of Risk Management were still being addressed.

For the most part, CRC has implemented adequate operational controls to support rigorous stewardship and mitigate risk. However, opportunities exist to strengthen controls over some areas, notably human resource planning and salaries, and over the use of acquisition cards. In the management of salaries, inefficiencies were noted in the use of "black book" systems and spreadsheet programs and the input of leave records.

For the most part, CRC has effective accountability elements in place. Program-related roles and responsibilities are clearly understood, and are supported by operational plans; however, as noted, its effectiveness may be hampered by the absence of a formal performance management framework. Performance evaluations for 2002-03 had not been completed at the time of audit. CRC external reporting meets departmental, Parliamentary and central agency reporting requirements. For corporate functions however, roles, responsibilities and authorities are not as well understood and need to be clarified.

Final Report (PDF - 291KB - 39 pages)

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