Thank you. I will do that, then. I'll move through performance audits quickly.
The next slide is what one is. It is looking at programs within the public sector. It touches upon economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Those are the key words you're going to hear. You're going to hear a lot around environment as well. It is introduced often as the fourth “E”. It goes beyond, as I had mentioned before, what was spent and deals with how it was spent and what was supposed to happen.
I'm sorry, I don't know the number but turning to the slide “Performance Audits Assess...”, what was supposed to have happened? What were the intended results? Were the systems designed to achieve that? Also, within the organizations, what kind of oversight do they have?
Again, Lesley mentioned some of this, but as for what they don't assess, they don't assess the merits of policy. That's often a tough one in practice. It's easy to say that the audit doesn't get into the policy itself, but that boundary is one that they often will bump up against, so it's something to watch for.
You do need to go further than just saying.... Was the hospital built would be a good example. Yes, this is probably something we look at more often in the provincial sector, but was the hospital built? At the same time, it is important to know what the rationale was behind the decision, in the context of whether appropriate planning was done, whether there was need for it or whether it's something that goes to nowhere. It doesn't get into the policy of whether or not you supply hospitals; rather, any other dimension to that could be looked at in the performance audit.
There's a list of the core elements. You'll see those in every audit that's brought before you. It's important to read the report in as much detail as you have time for. You won't understand absolutely every element of it. You have researchers there to help you do that. However, it's important to know what they looked at.
It's a blank page when you start an audit. You have to determine what you're going to look at in the first place. Then once you're in there, you have to decide, based on risk and significance, which area we're going to pick. Then they will describe that to you in the audit report so that you can fully understand what was looked at.
If it's not in the report, they didn't look at it. It does become important to know what the scope of the audit was. That will form the foundation for the questions you're able to then ask the witnesses, those who are responsible for delivering the program, on how things are going now and whether they have remedied these recommendations, and so on.
The action plans that are put in place as a general course of business at the federal level are the envy of the provinces. Not everybody has those. They're slowly being introduced across the country as the normal course of business.
The follow-up piece is very important. It's important that the report doesn't sit on the shelf. The other part is you don't want the official to leave the room, going, “Phew, that's over. Now I can go back to business as usual.” You don't want them to just wait the report out.
These are important components of what the committee can help prevent.
As Lesley pointed out, the list is comprehensive. You're going to get everything from national defence to respect in the workplace; special examinations, which are a comprehensive look at your Crown corporations; and financial information, so understanding what the public accounts means.
Lesley, I think it's back to you for good practice six.