Public Accounts committee  With respect to the remark that you cited, my sense of the Auditor General's remarks was that whatever decision the government ends up making, the Auditor General's audit approach can accommodate one decision or the other. I would also just point out, and harking back to our ea

Public Accounts committee  No, I have no knowledge of what--

Public Accounts committee  No.

Public Accounts committee  No, I'm just wondering if perhaps it's not a question that's better addressed to the Department of Finance.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Wiersema did note that there is no international consensus on the benefits of accrual appropriations. In fact, there is nothing authoritative that suggests this is the way to go. There is no standard-setter that has suggested this is the way to go, so i

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely.

Public Accounts committee  In terms of the summary financial statement, I think it's fair to say it's meant to capture the entirety of the operations of the entities that are consolidated into what is the whole-of-government view. But in terms of the level of detail and the nature of the reporting, that wi

Public Accounts committee  I had understood your question to be specifically about chief financial officers, and I discussed the relationships they are to have to the senior managers. But indeed, the entire organization beneath those CFOs is expected to have qualified financial officers, and—

Public Accounts committee  Yes, they all are to be well qualified, and they all are to do their jobs professionally. We expect the managers to benefit from their efforts.

Public Accounts committee  I'm sorry, we're not able to respond to that question.

Public Accounts committee  My role is to establish financial management policies, among other policies.

Public Accounts committee  When Parliament appropriates funds, there are no restrictions on what objects of expenditure will be used. Those decisions on what is the best mix of resources--be it personnel, services of whatever kind, goods of whatever kind--are left to the deputy heads of the departments to

Public Accounts committee  We can see in any organization's operation, including an organization such as the Government of Canada, the managers organize their resources to get results. They have to make judgments about the kinds of resources they need and the best use of their available funds. Those flexib

Public Accounts committee  I certainly agree with you with respect to the importance of the role of the chief financial officers. That has been underlined in some of our recent policy changes and reforms. We now expect that chief financial officers will report directly to the deputy heads and the chief exe

Public Accounts committee  I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with the program in question to be able to respond.