New faces on CCAF's Board of Governors
Six new Governors were elected to CCAF's Board at the Foundation's Annual General Meeting on October 30, 2006:
- Roxanne Anderson, CA, MBA, CIRP, the partner responsible for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Canadian Federal Government Practice (Treasurer)
- Alain Benedetti, FCA, Chair of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
- Ruth Dantzer, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada School of Public Service
- Yves Gauthier, FCA, Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Desjardins Securities in Montreal
- John Herhalt, CA, CISA, a partner in KPMG LLP's advisory services practice and National Leader of Public Sector Services
- Deanna Monaghan, CA, the Managing Partner of Ernst & Young in Ottawa.
The new Governors join the following existing Governors to form CCAF's Board:
- Michael McLaughlin, FCMA, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (Chair)
- Fred Dunn, FCA, Auditor General of Alberta (Vice-Chair)
- Gilles Bédard, FCGA, Assistant Auditor General of Quebec (Secretary)
- Philip Howell, Associate Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Finance
- Charles-Antoine St-Jean, FCA, Comptroller General of Canada
- Richard Smith, Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
The Board provides strong governance for and oversight of the operations of CCAF.
CCAF's five lines of business
To serve our members effectively, we have recently reorganized our activities into five lines of business:
- International Fellowship Program
- Research
- Capacity development
- Training
- Communications
We report on each of these below.
Fellowship Program continues to produce results
Graduates of the CCAF-administered International Assistance Program for Improved Governance and Accountability (the International Fellowship Program) often advance to senior positions in the supreme audit institutions of their home countries. Over the past few months, we learned that three of our Fellows recently reached the apex of their institutions:
- Mrs. Priscilla Komora (Class of 1990-91 at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada) is now Controller and Auditor General of the Republic of Kenya.
- Mrs. Nafi Ngom Keïta (Class of 2000-01 at the Vérificateur général du Québec) is Auditor General of the Republic of Senegal.
- Mr. Ugen Chewang (Class of 1992-93 at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada) is Auditor General of the Kingdom of Bhutan.
Fellows from Guyana, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka have also been or are currently head of the supreme audit institutions in their countries.
The 2006-2007 group of Fellows is currently hard at work at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. They include:
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Laurentine Ngwu of Cameroon; |
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Sikoro Keita of Mali; |
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George Chabby Haule of Tanzania; and |
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Sirikanchana Karikanchana of Thailand. |
We are doing our best to help them adjust to our distinctive Canadian winter.
The International Fellowship Program brings professional men and women from the supreme audit institutions of developing countries to Canada for nine months of instruction and practical experience. The program is a partnership involving CCAF, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA, the primary funder), the host Canadian legislative audit institutions, and the participating countries.
A key event in 2007 will be a decision by CIDA on our proposal to renew and possibly expand the IFP for the next five years.
Research results hit the road
Over the quarter century since CCAF was founded in 1980, we have become leaders in research on public sector accountability. Early in 2006 we published two valuable research reports:
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Parliamentary Oversight - Committees and Relationships: A Guide to Strengthening Public Accounts Committees examines the relationships between public accounts committees, auditors and government managers. A product of our Accountability and Audit Research Program, it provides readers with unique tools for strengthening the powers and practices of legislative oversight committees.
Toward Producing and Using Better Public Performance Reporting - Perspectives and Solutions is the latest output of our long-running and highly successful Public Performance Reporting Research Program. It looks at how legislators, the media and the general public use the public performance reports that governments produce. It suggests ways for governments to create more relevant public reports that resonate with users, and encourages users to make more and better use of this material.
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Our focus now is on bringing the results of this research to our members.
In September, we participated in the annual joint conference of the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors and the Canadian Council of Public Accounts Committees in Charlottetown. At this conference, we led a workshop (the John J. Kelly Forum) and unveiled our draft strategy for improving the effectiveness of PACs (see below for more). Both legislative auditors and PAC members participated and provided feedback on the strategy.
We also presented our research results at the Comptrollers Annual Conference in August 2006 in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Since then we have made a series of presentations to Public Accounts Committees across the country, based on the findings from our research. We describe these sessions in the following section of this report.
We have one additional research project currently on the go. It is looking at the government-wide arrangements in place in Canada's federal and provincial jurisdictions to ensure accountability in Crown agencies. Results from that research will be published soon.
In 2007, CCAF will hire a new Director of Research to replace David Moynagh, who returned to the Government of Canada in 2006 after 16 years with CCAF.
Capacity development now a key priority
CCAF's capacity development activities have given us the opportunity to share our knowledge and exchange views with many people over the past few months.
- CCAF presents strategy to public accounts committees
- Our research on public accounts committees (PACs) produced numerous practical ideas for strengthening these important contributors to effective accountability. Rather than let these ideas sit on the shelf, we have been taking them to people we think can best put them to use.
- Geoff Dubrow, who was appointed CCAF's Director of Capacity Development in June 2006, developed a draft strategy for improving the effectiveness of PACs based on our research findings. To date, Geoff has presented this draft strategy to:
- the Committee on Public Administration of the National Assembly of Quebec (August 30, 2006)
- a joint session of the Canadian Council of Public Accounts Committees and the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors (September 11, 2006)
- members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (October 3, 2006)
- the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (October 24, 2006)
- the Public Accounts Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (November 22, 2006).
- Committees in other provinces have expressed interest in hearing the presentation as well.
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- CCAF supports improved public performance reporting
Geoff has also been busy launching initiatives to strengthen public performance reporting in Canada. Funded in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, these initiatives to date include:
- Undertaking best practices research on user-friendly reporting approaches for public performance reports.
- Launching pilot projects in Ontario and British Columbia to strengthen the linkages between public performance reports and their users (legislators, the public and the media).
- Working to facilitate feedback from respective legislatures on the current state of performance reporting.
- Planning to launch, in the new year, a series of activities to engage the public and media in using and providing feedback on performance reports.
- CCAF has also entered into a contract with CIDA to provide objective feedback on CIDA's Annual Report on Development Results, the agency's first attempt to produce a public performance report. With CCAF Communications Associate Greg Gertz, Geoff assessed the draft report and provided CIDA with recommendations for improvement.
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- Internal auditors meet in Halifax and Gatineau
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 The Government Internal Auditors Council of Canada had a very successful National Forum in Halifax on October 23-25. CCAF sponsors the Council, and CCAF's Director of Training and Chief Financial Officer, Nicole Wieczorek, serves as Council Secretary.
Topics at this year's forum, the fourth such annual event, included the development of performance indicators for internal audit, the role of audit committees, environmental auditing, the relationship between internal and external audit, and the role of internal audit in enterprise risk management. We will provide members soon with a report on the discussions. The 2007 forum will be held in Whitehorse.
CCAF Chair Michael McLaughlin and Executive Director Michael Eastman played prominent roles at a conference on Best Practices in Internal Audit for the Public Sector held in Gatineau, Quebec on October 25-26, 2006.
Michael McLaughlin chaired the conference and led a session on Quality Assurance: Standards, Approaches and Peer Review. Michael Eastman delivered the final presentation of the event, which he entitled, “The Why, What, How, When and For Whom of Audit Reporting.”
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Our audit training program is up and running
CCAF has presented two pilot offerings of our newly developed Fundamentals of Performance (Value for Money) Auditing course: in Ottawa the week of November 6-10, and in Halifax the week of December 4-8, 2006.
Bill Rafuse, Bonnie Lysyk, and Elaine Morash were the course instructors. Bill is president of Rafuse Consulting and is a former Principal with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. Bonnie is Deputy Auditor General and Chief Operating Officer with the Office of the Auditor General of Manitoba and Elaine is Assitant Auditor General at the Office of the Auditor General of Nova Scotia.
We plan to offer the pilot course in Edmonton (January 15-19, 2007), and in French in Quebec City (dates TBD).
We are now in the process of developing an intermediate level performance auditing course. We are also discussing with KPMG the development and delivery across Canada of an Annual Update on changes to accounting and auditing standards in the public sector.
The introduction of these courses marks CCAF's re-entry in the business of audit training, at the invitation of the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors. Working with the Human Resources Network of CCOLA, we have put in place a process to identify and meet short and long-term audit training needs.
Legislative audit offices across Canada have given us access to their course materials for use in developing our courses. They have also made available some of their key personnel to provide us with advice and guidance during the course development process.
Nicole Wieczorek has recently been appointed Director of Training to oversee this new line of business.
Communications
One of the primary ways we provide value to our members is through the concise news and information pieces we provide our members through our web site. For example, over the past six months we have:
- announced key appointments in Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia
- explored the subject of auditing performance reports with Susan Jennings, Assistant Auditor General in the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, and Ronda White, Assistant Auditor General in the Office of the Auditor General of Alberta
- outlined the work program of the Public Sector Accounting Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
- interviewed Ontario's Deputy Minister of Finance, Colin Andersen, about the provincial government's new approach to risk management
- presented highlights of the draft Federal Accountability Act
and much more.
We alert members to the addition of information on the CCAF web site by e-mail.
Over the past few years, we have substantially increased the number of informative articles and news items we produce. The number went from to 14 in 2004-2005, to 31 in 2005-2006, to 40 in the first nine months of 2006-2007.
Another key CCAF communications initiative is our Institutional Members Briefing Program. Through this program, every one of our institutional members receives a visit from a CCAF senior staff member at least once a year. This allows us to stay in touch with our members and ensures we are alert to developments in the governance, management and audit communities.
Activities planned for 2007
The new year is already promising to be a busy one.
Our audit training program will kick into high gear, with courses on the Fundamentals of Performance (Value for Money) Auditing and Intermediate Performance (Value for Money) Auditing. We are exploring several delivery options, including delivery on demand in major regional centres, and open registration for sessions offered on a national basis.
On January 16 and 17, CCAF Executive Director Michael Eastman will chair a conference on Adopting Best Practices in Public Sector Performance Management in Victoria, B.C. He will also moderate a panel that will explore the topic of “Understanding Expectations: Uses and Users of Public Performance Reporting.” CCAF's Geoff Dubrow will make a presentation on “Improving Performance Reports to Better Address the Concerns of Users.”
We are looking forward to a follow-up event in 2007 to our November 2005 Environmental Auditing Symposium. Possible timing is late March in Victoria, B.C.
Also on the agenda is our participation at the annual joint conference of the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors and the Canadian Council of Public Accounts Committees, where we will again lead the John J. Kelly Forum. We will also be at the Controllers' Conference in July in the Yukon.
And as we noted above, the Government Internal Auditors Council of Canada will also meet in the Yukon – in September.
In addition to these events, we will be active across the country with our Sloan Program initiatives, our Institutional Members Briefing Program, our presentations to public accounts committees, and our other activities.
We'll keep you informed.
Seasons greetings
And so, as we look back on a busy 2006 and forward to an exciting year to come, the Board and staff of CCAF-FCVI Inc. wish all of you and your families a very enjoyable holiday season and a Happy New Year.
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