It's a challenge, I'm sure, for all sorts of organizations and at all levels of government. They'll pass a budget, but those implementations won't happen for a quarter, and so on, so they float it over that quarter and assume that expenditures are going to be the same.
I don't think this is necessarily a challenge of computational need. These estimates could be put out if you wanted, if parliamentarians demanded they be put out in a particular way and held the bureaucracy to the fire. The example of CIDA not putting out all the full numbers for 2011 should not be acceptable, and they should not be allowed to do that. Someone should come down there, slap some wrists, and make sure it's done correctly.
There are always challenges in terms of timing, but it would certainly be helpful if the 2011-2012 RPPs and main estimates were in accordance with the federal budget. Currently they're not; they're a year off, essentially. As well, it would be helpful if there were a reconciliation at the end of every year to explain what was changed over the course of the year and why it was changed.
It seems so simple, and it's regularly available at a given level of government. It's simply not in one place at the federal level.