Wayne Strelioff, CA
Auditor General of British Columbia
IIA / ICABC
Speaking notes – luncheon
October 17, 2001
(the evolving role of BC’s auditor general)
Thank you for the warm introduction and the opportunity to discuss with you today the evolving role of my Office.
In my presentation today, I plan to focus on:
My presentation is about 20-25 minutes. After, if you have questions, I will do my best to answer them.
After 11 years as an auditor general in two provinces, I continue to learn in so many circumstances that providing independent, credible and evidence-based information and assurances on public sector performance and risk management is such a fundamental ingredient to public confidence in our institutions of government.
In these uncertain and changing times, I know that the role of independent assurers or auditors is increasingly valuable to the public, to investors, to management, and – to our elected representatives!
As the Auditor General, I am an officer of the Legislative Assembly.
I am appointed by an all-party committee which has the responsibility to recommend to the Assembly – unanimously – a person to be the Auditor General for a term of 6 years. I have now held this position for 18 months.
I can be removed from Office through a vote in the Legislative Assembly – as far as I know, this has never happened in Canada.
I report to the Assembly. My reports – which are public – are automatically referred to a standing committee of the Assembly which has the responsibility of dealing with the contents of my reports in meetings open to the public. Public scrutiny is a key to the success of and public confidence in our institutions of government.
In general, the role of an Auditor General is to help all legislators and, thus, all citizens, hold the government accountable for its use of public resources and for its management of the considerable responsibilities entrusted to government.
We entrust much to our institutions of government!
I have an Office of about 90 people with a wide range of professional credentials and experience – we are a small office compared to say Alberta and Saskatchewan – so we must ensure we are diligent in deciding what to do and rigorous in ensuring we do our work well.
We have access to all parts of government, to all types of information, and we decide what to report and when. And, our report are public documents.
The goal of our Office is to encourage government to provide legislators and BC citizens with the best information possible for assessing the performance of government.
Our objective is that legislators and the public receive relevant, reliable and understandable information on the planned and actual results of government, and on how well government is managing the key risks it faces in achieving its planned results.
We want to make a difference by contributing to accountable and well-performing government. Valued for making a difference is our vision.
Personally, I will be satisfied if four and one half years from now there is less concern and debate focused on government mismanagement, and more debate and focus on the key policy issues faced by legislators and government – which is where the debate should be focused.
The outcome I pursue is a healthier debate of policy alternatives in the context of a growing public confidence that no matter which policy alternative is chosen it will be well managed by the government of the day! So, four years from now, please invite me back to discuss whether I think there has been progress.
In our work, we have four key strategies which can be thought of as our lines of business and for which we allocate our resources and energies:
Recent work of our Office has focused on such risks as:
In addition in July, we signed off on the government’s financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2001 – that reported a surplus of $1.5 billion compared to $40 million the year before.
Our current work includes examining:
In addition, we are or will be assisting a wide range of legislative committees.
Our findings, conclusions and recommendations do make a difference. Most of recommendations have been supported by legislators and implemented by government particularly so in the last two years.
Our reports can be found at our website – www.bcauditor.com.
Even with much valuable work done or in the works, we must reposition and not just evolve.
Much change is taking place that directly affects the information and assurance needs and demands of our customers and stakeholders. These changes challenge what we do – and are taking place in a time frame that will test our capacity to manage.
We are repositioning our work significantly. And, we are trying to do so in a manner that builds on our strengths, manages our risks, and adheres to our values.
Many of the changes – and challenges – emerging relate to breakthroughs on issues that have been argued about for many years.
George Morfitt helped set the stage for a significant breakthrough on many fronts.
Other changes (and challenges) relate to the significant restructuring of the provincial public sector that is likely to take place during the next two years.
Several of the more significant breakthroughs are, for example:
These two steps represent a significant breakthrough in terms of the direction and focus of future public sector management.
Bringing this new direction to life will require significant leadership, perseverance and hard work from all of us.
The government’s financial plan and financial report are to adhere to generally accepted accounting principles which will lead to, for the first time, a complete accounting of planned and actual results for the health and education sector. No doubt sectoral financial statements and performance reports are on the horizon.
There is a growing convergence of accounting standards in the public and private sectors in Canada and Internationally. In Canada – public sector accounting is building on the best thinking and practices within the public and private sectors and is leading edge in a world context.
Yesterday, I attended a meeting in Toronto at the CICA to discuss what to do on several particular difficult issues. The meeting was attended by almost every Auditor General and Comptroller General at the provincial and federal level as well several deputy ministers of finance.
The fact that such a meeting took place and was so well attended augurs well for the future. And is a compliment to the work and role of the CICA which has shown important leadership during the past two decades and has no doubt contributed to a stronger sense of government fiscal management and responsibility across Canada.
The provincial Institute’s annual ‘check up’ is also a leading edge contribution to an informed debate.
Another leading edge development is that, as a public sector community, we are close to reaching agreement on general principles for performance reporting. This agreement will represent a significant step forward and is being reached within the context of the CCAF (formerly known as the Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation).
At the Legislature, Standing committees of legislators have been assigned responsibility for reviewing the performance plans and results of key parts of government including Crown corporations. This has never happened before!
Early next month, we will be meeting with the standing committee on Crown corporations focusing on what information they should be looking for within the service plans and performance reports of Crown corporations.
In the next year, there is likely to be a new Auditor General Act that sets out more clearly our responsibility as the auditor of all government, provides clear authority to examine the management practices of those organizations that receive public money, minimizes the extent to which a government of the day can interfere with the management of our office, and demands significant accountabilities from our office to legislators.
These changes set the stage for a move towards a system of government decision making and accountability that focuses on measurable performance expectations – a new era indeed!
These changes are also accompanied by significant policy shifts and restructuring during a time of tremendous financial pressures.
We are likely to see – government focusing more on policy development and performance management and less on delivering programs – a government focusing on results or outcomes rather than rules and second guessing, a government that takes risks when delegating authority for program delivery decisions or when exploring program delivery alternatives.
Significant risks will emerge that might not be well identified, discussed or well managed.
However, such a sea change is more likely to be successful at a time of financial pressure because that’s when decisions that are long over due are made about the role of government and about program delivery alternatives.
The work of internal and external performance management advisers and assurers will be even more important.
We are repositioning our Office in the context of our key long-run goal and in the context of several key measurable objectives.
As I said earlier, our key externally focused long-run goal is that legislators and the public have the best information possible for assessing the performance of government.
Our objectives focus on the information government provides and uses to guide its planned and actual results, and to managed the key risks it faces in achieving its planned results.
Within our office, we are rethinking our priorities and are putting in place new ones, we are refocusing our organization by building on our strengths, and we are putting in place a stronger sense of urgency including the premise that to be credible we must walk our talk.
On the rethinking our priorities front, we are moving forward a work program that focuses on:
On refocusing our own organization, we are
On the walk the talk front, we are
We have much work to do but the purpose is worthwhile.
We want government managers, legislators and the public to have the best information possible for assessing the performance of government.
I want to see more public confidence in our institutions of government.
I know independent, credible and evidenced-base information and assurances are a necessary ingredient.
There is much work to do in what no doubt will be a demanding and challenging ‘new era.’
Thank you.
