Mr. Chair, we're pleased to have this opportunity to discuss our 2014-15 performance report and our 2016-17 report on plans and priorities. With me today is Sylvain Ricard, assistant auditor general of corporate services and chief financial officer; Susan Seally, principal of human resources; and Ron Bergin, principal of strategic planning.
As the legislative auditor of the federal government and the three northern territories, we support Parliament and territorial legislatures by providing independent and objective assurance, advice, and information about government financial statements and the management of government programs. The commissioner of the environment and sustainable development carries out our mandate related to the environment and sustainable development.
We conduct all of our audits in accordance with Canadian auditing standards. We subject our audits, and our system of quality control, to internal practice reviews and to periodic external reviews, to provide assurance that you can rely on the quality of our work.
In addition to carrying out our audit work, we are engaged in the advancement of legislative audit methodology, accounting and auditing standards, and best practices. We also work internationally, supporting projects funded by Global Affairs Canada, sharing knowledge, building professional capacities, and promoting better-managed and accountable international institutions.
As reflected in our financial statements, our net cost of operations was $92.4 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year, of which $77.7 million was provided through the main estimates. We had a budget of 565 full-time equivalent employees, and employed the equivalent of 547 full-time employees.
With these resources, we delivered 87 financial audits, three special examinations, 25 performance audits, and two case reports under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. This represents all planned audit work except for one performance audit, on sustainable development of commercial fisheries, which was cancelled.
Our 2014-15 performance report identifies several indicators of the impact of our work, along with measures of our operational performance, which are attached to this statement as appendix A.
In monitoring the impact of our work, specifically the extent to which federal government organizations addressed the issues and concerns raised in our audits, our targets were met for special examinations and performance audits. Our target was not met for financial audits, though the affected audits represent less than 4% of our total work.
In the 2014-15 performance report, we note that parliamentary committees reviewed 32% of our performance audits. This finding represents an increase from 24% in the 2013-14 fiscal year, although it is below our target of 65%. We participated in 21 parliamentary committee hearings and briefings on our audit work.
Among senior managers of organizations subject to performance audits, 59% either agreed or strongly agreed that our audit reports were understandable and fair and added value. This result was below our target of 80% and below recent results, which ranged from 74% to 79%.
Our analysis shows that most of the remaining respondents were neutral, neither agreeing nor disagreeing that our reports added value, and they identified no particular opportunities for improvement.
Our measures of organizational performance remained generally positive. In particular, our practice reviews, which serve as a key quality control in our audit methodology, found that our audit reports were appropriate and supported by proper evidence.
Turning now to our 2016-17 report on plans and priorities.
Our strategic plan identifies a number of client, operational, and people management objectives that we use to manage the office and direct our continuous improvement efforts. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, we will focus most of our improvement efforts on the following three priorities.
First, we will improve the governance and management of the office through the implementation of new senior management roles and responsibilities, and improvements to our risk management procedures. These actions should lead to more streamlined decision-making at the most appropriate level in the organization.
Second, to develop and maintain a skilled, engaged, and bilingual workforce, we will monitor employee participation in our required professional development program, develop and deliver empowerment workshops, and implement second-language learning plans.
We are committed to providing our staff with the training and development opportunities they need, and to supporting them in meeting the language requirements of their positions.
Third, to meet our objective of ensuring that we continue to select audits that are likely to have significant impact and value, we will review our audit mandates and the allocation of our audit resources to focus on audits of greatest importance.
We are also reviewing the performance indicators that we use to manage the office and to report to you on our performance.
We expect to complete this work in the coming months.
Tables containing our current performance measures are attached to the statement as appendix B.
For the 2016-17 fiscal year, we are requesting parliamentary appropriations of $78.5 million in our main estimates.
Our planned number of full-time equivalent employees is 570. With these resources, we expect to complete more than 85 financial audits, 24 performance audits, and six special examinations.
In conclusion, my staff and I look forward, in the coming year, to continuing to provide you with products of high quality that add value.
We thank you for your ongoing support of our work. We would be pleased to answer your questions.
Thank you.
