Public Accounts committee  This question would be better posed to the Department of Finance, because you're asking a question about comparison with the budget.

Public Accounts committee  Significant audit effort is being mounted to audit the accounts of the Government of Canada. First and foremost, we do work at the component level; by that, I mean the various parts that make up the whole of the public accounts. This means that we need to have all the plans for m

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, indeed, the inventory at National Defence accounts for most of what we own as a government as a whole; I believe it's about $6 billion out of $7 billion. The issue is inventory as well as what they called asset-pooled items, which are like repairable

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The information that the member was referring to can be found on page 2.15. In note 3(vi), you see the two significant transactions that have been referred to. Both of them have to do with the HST. In the case of B.C., we'd signed an agreement with them to

Public Accounts committee  That is a difficult question. I'd rather not address that, because I think different provincial colleagues have their views about treating transfer payments. It is indeed a fairly complex issue that the accounting profession is struggling with.

Public Accounts committee  I guess I would just add to what Mr. Ralston said. The purpose of the financial statements, the public accounts, is to look at the financial results. What the member is looking for are program results in terms of how much money is being spent there, and perhaps for what purpose

Public Accounts committee  We do have an international strategy within the Office of the Auditor General. One tranche of that is really trying to help other jurisdictions, other legislative auditors, to advance their work. Within that strategy, it does call for us to be at a forum that is called INTOSAI. T

Public Accounts committee  The information the member is referring to is not part of section 2. We audit only section 2 of volume I, so that's not actually subject to audit.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The important distinction is the accounting framework that supports that reporting entity. In the case of crown corporations, a lot of them are government business enterprises, so in the first instance they are not reliant on appropriation from Parliament.

Public Accounts committee  That's what we had to spend the time and effort to audit, and we are satisfied that those transition adjustments, as well as the line-by-line consolidation work, are properly conducted.

Public Accounts committee  I would make a few comments, but I'm sure Mr. Ralston would like to jump in because he is a member of the public sector accounting board. Auditor General Michael Ferguson is also a member. Essentially, a lot of these standard-setting bodies try not to reinvent the wheel. They lo

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I don't think I would be in a position to really answer that question. The scope of the audit really was to look at the financial reporting against the accounting framework. In terms of program spending—

Public Accounts committee  No. We're not in a position to do that. That's not part of the audit.

Public Accounts committee  Certainly we're happy to see that CBSA is moving forward and having a strategy to do all these reconciliations, and now are going back into further and further years. What is still outstanding is the ability to have this receivable system that they thought they would be able to

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to meet with your committee today to discuss chapter 7 of our fall 2012 report, on long-term fiscal sustainability. Joining me at the table is Richard Domingue, the principal responsible for this audit. Long-term fiscal sustainability ref