Introduction

In late 2005, the Audit, Evaluation and Ethics Branch at Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) began a continuous auditing approach for grants and contributions in the department. Continuous auditing is achieved through short cyclical audit assignments, each one focusing on a few key management aspects at a time.

The first audit cycle was completed in April 2006 using the services of Consulting and Audit Canada. This cycle examined financial management of grants and contributions at WD and compliance with authority and delegations. This first phase also reviewed standards, controls, practices, policies and processes. The results of this audit are found on the WD public website.

This phase, administration of grants and contributions, was the second phase in the cyclical audit, looking at compliance with relevant legislation and management of administrative aspects of grants and contributions at WD. The work for this phase of the cycle was completed by WD’s Audit, Evaluation and Ethics team and included all regions, except Ottawa.

Focus of the audit

The objective of this audit was to examine administrative aspects of grants and contributions to determine if current methods and controls governing the process at WD are in compliance with Treasury Board requirements, and in particular, the Policy on Transfer Payments. The period covered by the audit was from October 2004 through to March 2006.

Methodology

The audit focused on the management of agreements, compliance with terms and conditions, standardization, regional practices, consistencies, streamlining and identification and sharing of best practices. The regions covered by the audit included British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

In addition to the review of policy and Treasury Board requirements, the audit included file reviews, and in total 60 files were reviewed, including files from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Input from interviews conducted in all regions was obtained, and a cross section of project assessment officers, monitoring and payments officers, approval managers, senior policy and planning staff, senior finance staff, Assistant Deputy Ministers, Director Generals of Operations, and communications advisors were interviewed.

A grants and contributions meeting was attended in Alberta region and a presentation made to the senior management team in Saskatoon.

In summary, evidence was obtained from a variety of sources as a means of validating results found.