An influential group of experts on public performance reporting has come together as a task force to guide and support CCAF's new Improved Public Performance Reporting program.

The goal of the program is to realign public performance reporting with the needs of report users. This is to be accomplished through a number of initiatives over the next three years. These initiatives include best practices research, pilot projects, structured discussions with users, and dissemination of information about public performance reporting to both producers and users.

Mix of experience and expertise

Ed Archer is a Principal in Public Sector Accounting with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. He will provide expertise on issues regarding reporting standards, including the alignment of CCAF's program with the evolution of the Statement of Recommended Practice released in 2006 by the CICA's Public Sector Accounting Board. A former employee of the Region of Halton (Ontario), he will also advise on projects involving municipalities.

Katherine Graham is the Dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs and Management at Carleton University, with research interests in urban and local governance. She will provide expertise on issues regarding the volunteer and NGO sectors. Katherine was a member of CCAF's former Advisory Group on Public Performance Reporting.

Susan Jennings is the Assistant Auditor General of BC, and the BC representative on the Performance Reporting Advisory Group of the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors. She will represent PRAG's point of view and serve as an observer to the group.

Lee McCormack is the Executive Director of Results-based Management at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. His mandate is to provide leadership and support for results management in the Government of Canada. His division has responsibility for program evaluation policy, the implementation of management resources and results structures government wide, and for improved reporting to Parliament.

Graham Steele is the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Halifax Fairview. He has been a member of the Public Accounts Committee since 2002 and served as Chair from 2003-2005. He is the New Democratic Party's Deputy House Leader. Graham was a member of the CCAF's Advisory Group on Public Performance Reporting.

Chris Waddell is the Carty Chair in Business and Financial Journalism at the Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication. Chris, formerly a prominent national business journalist, will provide expertise on issues regarding the media.

Michael Weir, CCAF's former research associate for public performance reporting, is acting as an advisor to CCAF for the new program, a successor to CCAF's former Public Performance Reporting program, which was launched in 1999. Under that program, CCAF brought together managers, legislative auditors and legislators to develop a set of public performance reporting principles (published in 2002) and build support for implementation of the principles. In 2006, CCAF published Users and Uses: Towards Producing and Using Better Public Performance Reporting.

Background to the program

In welcoming the task force members, CCAF Executive Director Michael Eastman noted that the program is proceeding thanks to funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the participation of project partners in a number of jurisdictions across Canada.

He said public performance reporting has come a long way over the past 10 years. Many Canadian governments, at all levels, now produce public performance reports. Technology is now in place that makes the collection and dissemination of performance information easier than ever. And the work underway at the Public Sector Accounting Board and the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors will encourage further improvements in performance reporting.

Nevertheless, much remains to be done. Geoff Dubrow, CCAF's Director of Capacity Development, explained to the task force the rationale for the new program, which he is heading up. He said legislative auditors are generally not finding much improvement in public performance reports (PPRs), and such potential users as legislators, the media, NGOs and the public are not using PPRs. There is a danger that commitment to public performance reporting is weakening in Canada.

However, PPRs are very important tools for accountability in our democratic system of government, Geoff said, “the nexus between strategic financial management and citizen engagement.” He quoted a 2006 Conference Board of Canada report that said Canadians “want evidence that tough spending choices are based on high-quality, reliable financial and performance information.” He said strategic financial management requires good performance measurement and reporting.

CCAF's Improved Public Performance Reporting program aims to realign performance reports with the needs of user groups. Behind this goal is a conviction that governments themselves will benefit if they produce performance information that is useful to legislators, media and the public.

Geoff Dubrow explained that the program has two sets of objectives:

• Users: The program will obtain feedback from users on how to improve the readability and usability of performance reports, and stimulate demand for PPRs among users.
• Governments: The program will provide governments with user feedback, and apprise governments (and other institutions of governance) of best practices.

Group provides valuable guidance

The task force members reviewed the program implementation plan and workplan and offered a number of valuable suggestions and observations. For example:

• They highlighted the need to reach out to all users, including legislators and members of the public.
• They reinforced the importance of aligning the program's activities with the CICA's Statement of Recommended Practice on Public Performance Reporting.
• They noted the need for a flexible workplan that would allow CCAF to take up emerging project opportunities.
• They stressed the potential value of good practices research, and suggested that findings from such projects be disseminated broadly.
• They encouraged efforts to engage municipalities in the program.

Based on the task force members' comments, CCAF will revise the program implementation plan and workplan.

The task force will meet again in the fall of 2007. In the meantime, the members offered to provide advice and support on an individual basis, allowing CCAF to tap into their areas of expertise as required.

Copyright © 2007 CCAF-FCVI
Privacy Policy