Quarterly Financial Report for CICS for the Quarter Ending December 31, 2013

Quarterly Financial Report for the quarter ended December 31, 2013

Statement outlining results, risks and significant changes in operations, personnel and program

1. Introduction

This quarterly report has been prepared by management as required by section 65.1 of the Financial Administration Act and in the form and manner prescribed by the Treasury Board Accounting Standard 1.3.  This report should be read in conjunction with the 2013-14 Main Estimates (and as applicable – Supplementary Estimates and previous quarterly reports for the current year) as well as Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012 (Budget 2012).

The mandate of the Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat (CICS) is to support federal, provincial and territorial governments by planning, conducting, and the serving of senior level intergovernmental conferences held across Canada. The primary objective of CICS is to relieve client departments in virtually every major sector of intergovernmental activity of the numerous technical and administrative tasks associated with multilateral conferences, thereby enabling conference participants to concentrate on the substantive policy issues. CICS provides continuous, effective, impartial administrative services to these meetings.

The quarterly report has not been subject to an external audit or review.

Basis of Presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting.  The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes the department’s spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the department consistent with the 2013-14 Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates.  This quarterly report has been prepared using a special purpose financial framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities.

The authority of Parliament is required before moneys can be spent by the Government.  Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.

As part of the departmental performance reporting process, CICS prepares its annual departmental financial statements on a full accrual basis in accordance with Treasury Board accounting policies, which are based on Canadian generally accepted accounting principles for the public sector.  However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis.

As part of the Parliamentary business of supply, the Main Estimates must be tabled in Parliament on or before March 1 preceding the new fiscal year.  Budget 2012 was tabled in Parliament on March 29, after the tabling of the 2012-13 Main Estimates on February 28, 2012 and as a result the measures announced in the Budget 2012 were not reflected in the 2012-13 Main Estimates.  However, frozen allotments were established by the Treasury Board to prohibit the spending of funds identified as cost savings measures in the Budget 2012.  In 2013-2014, the Budget 2012 impacts have been incorporated in departmental authorities presented in the 2013-14 Main Estimates tabled in Parliament.

2. Highlights of fiscal quarter and fiscal year to date (YTD) results

2.1 Statement of Authorities

As reflected in the Statement of Authorities, the CICS’ total authorities available for 2013-14 were lower than the previous year by approximately $0.6 million because the 2012-13 total authorities did not reflect measures announced in Budget 2012.

2.2 Statement of Department Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object

Compared to the previous year, total budgetary expenditures recorded in the third quarter were similar as per the attached Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object.

Overall 67 percent of available authorities for the year have been spent. This percentage is slightly higher than the previous year, where 60 percent of total authorities were expended. The difference is primarily due to the reduction of $.6 million in authorities for 2013-14.

3. Risks and Uncertainties

Our one program mandate is to provide administrative services for the planning and conduct of First Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers level federal-provincial-territorial and provincial-territorial conferences.  As such the number of conferences and meetings can fluctuate from one year to the next.  Ongoing challenges in government fiscal management have led to a lower number of senior level multilateral intergovernmental meetings serviced by the Secretariat being held over the last number of years.  In addition, there have been freezes and reductions in the areas of travel, hospitality and conferences throughout government which have had an impact on the services we provide.

Like many other departments and agencies, CICS is facing a critical demographic issue as we enter a phase where a significant number of our personnel are or will be eligible for retirement.  Sustained efforts will be exerted to keep our employees for a reasonable period of time by creating an environment conducive to career development and job satisfaction.

4. Significant changes in relation to operations, personnel and program

In response to the evolving needs of clients, the Conference Services Division transformed its service delivery model to encompass video-conferencing and other new technologies. A realignment of functions and tasks resulted in the need for a review and update of job descriptions which resulted in an upward classification from AS 02 to the AS 03 level for five Conference Assistant (Procurement and Technical Services) positions.

5. Budget 2012 Implementation

This section provides an overview of the savings measures announced in Budget 2012 that was implemented in order to refocus government and programs; make it easier for Canadians and business to deal with their government; and to modernize and reduce the back office operations.

In 2013-14, the second year of implementation, the Secretariat will achieve savings of approximately $0.6 million and will produce ongoing saving of $0.7 million by 2014-15.  This will be accomplished through efficiency measures and program reductions that align resources to the core mandate, scaling back where the need is reduced; transforming operations internally; and by consolidating and streamlining.  With these changes the CICS will focus on supporting management excellence and accountability across government.

CICS has realigned its three year Strategic Plan with the Budget decisions and continues discussions on the necessary transformation of CICS. CICS has been striving to transform its corporate and service delivery model and recent events have emphasized the importance of continuing, even accelerating these efforts. Also, the CICS transformation involved the reclassification of positions and created pressures on our ability to deliver all of our services as well as on our capacity to support all requests, especially during peak periods.

Approval by Senior Officials

The paper version was approved and signed by:

Statement of Authorities (unaudited)

* Includes only Authorities available for use and granted by Parliament at quarter end.

** Total available for use does not reflect measures announced in Budget 2012.

Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object (unaudited)

* Total available for use does not reflect measures announced in Budget 2012.

** Personnel now include amounts for the government’s contributions to employee benefit plans.