Follow-up Audit of the Strategic Communities Investment Fund

Acoa

Description

Follow-up Audit of the Strategic Communities Investment Fund – Program Management Report – Fiscal Year 2003/04 Audit Directorate Final Report March 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS OBJECTIVES .................................................................................. 1 SCOPE............................................................................................ 1 METHODOLOGIES......................................................................... 1 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIF AND ICF................................... 1 AUDIT RESULTS ............................................................................ 2 Post Payment Audit (MAP – Recommendation 2) .................... 2 Components of the Program (MAP – Recommendation 3)....... 3 Client Service Standards (MAP – Recommendation 4) ............ 4 OVERALL CONCLUSION............................................................... 5 Audit Directorate Follow-up Audit of the Strategic Communities Investment Fund – Program Management Report – Fiscal Year 2003/04 OBJECTIVES The objectives of this follow-up engagement were to: • Identify the recommendations from the 2003 Strategic Community Investment Fund (SCIF) Audit of Program Management and determine the risk associated with each; • Review and document the actions taken by management in response to the 2003 SCIF Audit ...

Informations

• Publié par: Phawyor
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English

Extrait

Follow-up Audit of the

Strategic Communities Investment Fund –

Program Management Report –

Fiscal Year 2003/04

Audit Directorate

Final Report

March 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OBJECTIVES.................................................................................. 1

SCOPE............................................................................................ 1

METHODOLOGIES......................................................................... 1

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIF AND ICF................................... 1

AUDIT RESULTS............................................................................ 2

Post Payment Audit (MAP – Recommendation 2) .................... 2

Components of the Program (MAP – Recommendation 3)....... 3

Client Service Standards (MAP – Recommendation 4) ............ 4

OVERALL CONCLUSION............................................................... 5

Audit Directorate

Page 1

Follow-up Audit of the

Strategic Communities Investment Fund –

Program Management Report –

Fiscal Year 2003/04

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this follow-up engagement were to:

•

Identify the recommendations from the 2003 Strategic Community

Investment Fund (SCIF) Audit of Program Management and determine

the risk associated with each;

•

Review and document the actions taken by management in response

to the 2003 SCIF Audit of Program Management; and,

•

Provide management with results from the follow-up audit.

The examination was conducted during December 2005 and January 2006 and

covered activities that have occurred since the issuance of the SCIF Audit report.

SCOPE

The scope of this audit included three of the four recommendations from the

original audit report. The findings were considered to be of moderate to high risk

and included:

•

Post-Payment Audit (MAP, Recommendation 2)

•

Components of the Program (MAP, Recommendation 3)

•

Client Service Standards (MAP, Recommendation 4)

In addition, the audit reviewed the relationship between SCIF and the new

Innovative Communities Fund (ICF) Program.

METHODOLOGIES

•

Interviews with SCIF Program Officer; and,

•

Document review relating to SCIF achievements.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIF AND ICF

Funding through the SCIF Program ended in March 2005 and the Program is

currently considered to be in payout years. The new ICF Program which was

launched in 2005 will have the same clients and follow the same procedures as

Audit Directorate

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the SCIF Program. Similar to SCIF, ICF will also have as its main objective to

create stronger and more sustainable communities. Fundamentally, ICF will be

managed in the same way as SCIF, including an ICF Working Group which will

be composed of representatives from the regions and head office.

AUDIT RESULTS

Post Payment Audit (MAP – Recommendation 2)

SCIF Audit Report

The SCIF program planned to use the payment system in place for the Business

Development Program (BDP). The payment system for the BDP was developed

in 1995 for the implementation of the BDP and included a Post-Payment Audit

(PPA) system that was designed to assess the level of control on an ongoing

basis.

The payment system has been found to maintain good control of

payments.

The post-payment audit system used for BDP was developed specifically for that

program taking into consideration the volume of payments, mix of commercial

and non-commercial projects and payment risk. To use the PPA approach for

the SCIF program, the payment system should be assessed and the PPA

sampling approach should be designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the SCIF

payment system on an ongoing basis.

In the 2003 Audit of Program Management, it was recommended that the

payment approach for SCIF and the design of the PPA system used to monitor

the effectiveness of control of payments be assessed to determine if the system

will provide decision making information about payments and the level of

payment risk.

Management agreed to proceed with the PPA for SCIF taking into consideration

all recommendations from the Audit.

Follow-up Audit

The follow-up audit found that PPAs have been completed for SCIF.

Assessment of the process will be completed by the Audit Directorate by the end

of April 2006.

Conclusion

With the completion of the SCIF Program in March 2005, there are no further

recommendations for SCIF; however, we would recommend that a PPA process

be considered for the new ICF Program.

Audit Directorate

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Management Response

Management agrees with the recommendation. We understand that the PPA

process for all programs will be amalgamated in the new fiscal year. We support

the need for results to be program specific and will help ensure that a sufficient

level of PPAs are undertaken to provide an opinion on the payment system for

ICF.

Components of the Program (MAP – Recommendation 3)

SCIF Audit Report

The objective of SCIF was to focus on rural communities and support strategic

initiatives that help communities adopt new technologies, enhance the

competitiveness

of

their

industrial

base,

and

develop

their

economic

infrastructure. SCIF operated under a well-defined program framework.

Emphasis was placed on projects that increased the region’s capacity for

innovation and knowledge-based opportunities or which otherwise enhanced the

region’s capacity to generate trade and investment opportunities and assist in the

development of key sectors. Both new-economy and resource sectors which had

potential to expand or diversify in the knowledge-based economy were included.

The nature of the SCIF program was interpreted by the OAG in Chapter 6 of the

2001 report to be “conditionally repayable and non-repayable contributions to

assist in building new partnerships that will increase the capacity of Atlantic

Canadians to compete in an increasingly global, knowledge-based economy.”

The 2003 Audit of Program Management found that the range of projects being

approved was less distributed among the various components of eligible

initiatives than some might expect.

The Audit recommended that the Agency explore the need to broaden the range

of actual projects among the various elements of program objectives. Further,

the Agency was encouraged to work with communities to ensure SCIF projects

were in line with community strategic plans, thus potentially improving the

strategic element of projects.

Management agreed to hold discussions with officials responsible for SCIF in

each region and will continue to work with the communities on projects that

reflect their needs.

Follow-up Audit

In the follow-up audit, evidence was found that Account Managers worked with

clients and met regularly with community interest groups such as associations

and municipalities to help expand the range of projects being approved. Further,

Audit Directorate

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accomplishments have been made in the IT sector and have been documented

by SCIF management for monitoring and reporting purposes.

Finally, preparations for the Summative Evaluation of SCIF will begin in

January 2006 and will report on the results of SCIF in helping communities adopt

new technologies to enhance their capacity for innovation and knowledge-based

opportunities, enhance their capacity to affect greater trade and investment

opportunities and assist in the development of key sectors.

Conclusion

Management’s commitment to broaden the range of projects to meet program

objectives was met with success. No further actions are recommended.

Client Service Standards (MAP – Recommendation 4)

SCIF Audit Report

The SCIF Program was launched without benefit of established overall

turnaround times, or of targets for each step in the process. This made it difficult

for those dealing directly with clients or potential clients to provide meaningful

estimates of when a project decision could be expected.

Naturally enough,

without recourse to a published standard, delays on some projects were

permitted to creep into the process.

The Agency has recognized the need for establishing client service objectives,

specifically related to timeliness of response.

Currently underway within the

Agency is an initiative to develop process maps for SCIF project evaluation. The

results will be used to identify and deal with activities which do not add value, in

order that meaningful and reasonable service standards can be developed.

We

believe

there

may

be

opportunities

to

further

improve

program

responsiveness by examining the delegation of authority structure of Agency

programs. This, combined with process mapping and other ongoing work with

respect

to

client

service

objectives,

may

permit

improvements

to

the

effectiveness and the efficiency of program delivery.

It was recommended that the Agency establish client service objectives and

standards for each program and publish those standards to permit objective

analysis of service. The 2003 Audit also encouraged the Agency to continue with

the process mapping initiative currently underway and to use the results to help

establish client service standards.

Management agreed to finalize the process mapping initiative for SCIF and to

participate in any future reviews of the Agency’s program delegations in order to

establish Agency-wide client service standards.

Audit Directorate

Page 5

Follow-up Audit

During the follow-up audit, we determined that process maps were completed.

According to SCIF Management, regional offices are now able to refine and

streamline their work process for project evaluations and update the process

maps as changes occur. Further, results from research based on the use of the

process maps, have been communicated to Program Directors to assist with the

establishment of Agency-wide client service standards.

Client service standards have not been established for SCIF. However, the issue

of service standards for ACOA, in general, is being discussed by ACOA’s Service

Quality Committee with the intention of updating Agency service standards which

will benefit all programs.

Conclusion

With due consideration of the needs of ICF, we recommend that ACOA, with the

assistance of the Service Quality Committee, establish Agency-wide client

service standards.

Management Response

The issue of service standards for ACOA in general are being discussed by the

Service Quality Committee.

We understand that there is an expectation to

update/change the service standards across the Agency. We will ensure that the

needs of SCIF/ICF will be included in these discussions.

OVERALL CONCLUSION

Following an examination of the activities performed by SCIF Management since

the Audit, we conclude that, with the exception of developing client service

standards, ACOA has responded to the recommendations made in the SCIF

Audit of Program Management. It is anticipated that the need for client service

standards will be addressed by the Agency as a whole.