Public Accounts committee  Thank you. The first structural element, as I said, is the direct reporting relationship of chief audit executives to the deputies. Another important structural element was requiring that departmental audit committees be put in place and that the committees have a majority of members who come from outside the public service, once again the idea being that there's no possibility that the members of the committee would be anything for which they are directly responsible, so that they would be able to support the chief audit executive and, as well, give deputy heads the most frank advice possible.

Public Accounts committee  One of the key principles for auditing, whether it's internal or external, is that the auditor must approach the work with objectivity and an absence of bias. Structurally, the way that is ensured is to make sure that auditors effectively don't examine activities or practices that they are themselves responsible for.

Public Accounts committee  I think the one point that may help is that when internal auditors do their work, they follow the standards set by the Institute of Internal Auditors. They declare that their reports are in conformity with those standards. We do ask, in the policy, that internal audit shops subject themselves to a review by the Institute of Internal Auditors to verify their compliance with standards.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, it's a professional function, so just the maintenance of a population of auditors who are qualified and up to date and certified is an ongoing challenge. Recruitment, development, and encouraging the certification of new auditors will be an ongoing activity. Similarly, the ongoing verification that standards are being followed will always be required.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about internal audit, and how we have strengthened it in recent years. I have with me today Brian Aiken, Assistant Comptroller General, Internal Audit. I will make a brief statement, and we would then be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

Public Accounts committee  I'm Jim Ralston, Comptroller General of Canada.

Public Accounts committee  Sure. There have been a couple of mentions already of the Federal Accountability Act and the designation of deputy heads as accounting officers. One of the things that accounting officers are responsible for is control, and another one is compliance with government policies. There are other things as well.

Public Accounts committee  In terms of the general process for CFO attestation, which is what you referred to, there are a number of official documents wherein financial information would be contained. A prime example, as Bill mentioned, would be a Treasury Board submission, for example. So if something had been included in a budget at some point in time, and approval had been given for a particular new initiative, Treasury Board would then do its due diligence around a specific ask for a specific amount to get that under way.

Public Accounts committee  Each year in the public accounts there is a portion showing the total authorities granted and the total spending against those authorities, for comparison purposes. For the public accounts of March 31, 2012, you will see included in the appropriated amounts the sums related to the GG warrants, but I think we may also show details allowing you to see that particular detail out of the total appropriation.

Public Accounts committee  I think with regard to the origins of the requirement, you have to trace back to a private member's bill. It wasn't the private member's bill that was enacted ultimately but in fact something the government put forward. In terms of the why and what it does, it is meant to serve parliamentarians primarily.

Public Accounts committee  In point of fact, this year we're expecting the tabling on November 3. Last year it was October 28; the year before that it was November 4; and the year before that it was December 1. So I don't perceive the timing this year to be unusual in any way.

Public Accounts committee  As I mentioned, the biggest factor determining the tabling is the production process, which is quite challenging and involves a lot of people. There are certain aspects of the financial statement, certain results, that cannot be determined until August. Even though much might be ready, a lot is left until that time, simply because it can't be done any earlier.

Public Accounts committee  As Bill pointed out, the estimates aren't about spending, but about authority. So they are prospective. By contrast, the public accounts are about spending and are retrospective. Once we've been through the supply process and the money has been spent, it comes time for the government to account for how that money was spent and to make it transparent to Parliament and Canadians.

Public Accounts committee  I'm Jim Ralston, Comptroller General of Canada.

Public Accounts committee  All right. There's only one part of it that I could attempt to respond to immediately, and that is just to comment on the source deductions and how they would appear in the public accounts. The public accounts are prepared on the basis of accruals as opposed to cash payments, so in point of fact the numbers here are predominantly based on assessed taxes based on the filing of taxpayers' returns, not on the cash transactions through the source deduction system.