In our 1999-2000 Annual Report, we recommended that the
Ministry improve its system to determine housing assistance needs.
We are pleased to report that during 2000-2001, the Ministry made progress towards determining its immediate and longer-term housing assistance needs.
In 2001, the Ministry established a Housing Innovation and Research Unit with responsibility for assessing housing needs across the Province. The Unit has established a database of information on current needs assembled with data from the latest national census, from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and, for information on the homeless, from municipalities.
Indicators have been developed which when applied to the database enable the Unit to determine the present seniors, family and special purpose housing needs. Later this year, the Ministry intends to develop a model for forecasting its housing assistance needs.
After the determination of its housing assistance needs, the Ministry’s next step according to its Housing Policy Framework (August 2000), is to develop plans, with input from municipalities, to address the quantified needs.
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We understand that the development of these plans has progressed very slowly to date because:
• information on needs has not been available until recently and the Ministry has to relate needs to the housing units presently benefiting from government assistance
• the Ministry is presently negotiating with CMHC regarding a transfer of housing assistance responsibilities, the outcome of which is uncertain
• a proposed devolution of housing assistance duties from the Ministry to municipalities is presently under consideration by municipalities
We shall monitor the progress made by government in 2001-02 towards developing its housing assistance plans.
Internal control environment
In our 1999-2000 Annual Report, we recommended that the
Department improve internal controls to ensure that all transactions are properly authorized, and appropriately and completely reflected in the financial records.
We are pleased to report that to the extent that we examined internal controls for the purpose of auditing the financial statements, we did not note internal control weaknesses during 2000-2001.
Ministry financial statements
I conducted an audit of the financial statements of the Ministry and the Department of Community Development for the year ended March 31, 2001. My auditor’s report for the Ministry contained an adverse opinion and my auditor’s report for the Department contained a reservation of opinion. The reason for the adverse opinion is discussed above, and the reason for the qualification is that the Department is expensing capital asset purchases.
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Ministry Audits and Recommendations Community Development
Other entities
My auditor’s report on the financial statements of the Historic Resources Fund for the year ended March 31, 2001 contained a reservation of opinion for departures from Canadian generally accepted accounting principles because:
• accumulated surpluses of volunteer societies related to the operation of government facilities were recorded as deferred contributions instead of being credited to the fund balance
• capital assets have been expensed and not recognized as assets Financial audits of the following were also completed for the year ended March 31, 2001.
Alberta Social Housing Corporation Alberta Foundation for the Arts
The Alberta Historical Resources Foundation
Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation The Government House Foundation
Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Education Fund The Wild Rose Foundation
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2000-2001 Annual Report 79 Auditor General of Alberta
Ministry Audits and Recommendations Economic Development
Economic Development
Overview
Ministry mission and core business
The mission of the Ministry of Economic Development is to promote Alberta’s continuing prosperity. The Ministry’s core businesses are:
• providing strategic leadership for economic development policy and planning
• market development and investment attraction
• tourism marketing and development
The Ministry works closely with the Alberta Economic
Development Authority (AEDA), the Strategic Tourism Marketing Council (Council) and the Travel Alberta Secretariat (Secretariat) to coordinate private sector input.
AEDA The AEDA consist of volunteers from the private sector and acts as a high-level policy advisory group to the government concerning key economic development and industry competitiveness issues.
The Council The Council, made up of volunteers from the tourism industry and employees of the Provincial government, establishes the strategic tourism-marketing plan.
The Secretariat The Secretariat consists of a small group of marketing professionals who provide assistance to the Council and are responsible for implementing and coordinating the strategic marketing plan established by the Council.
Financial results During 2000-2001 the Ministry’s operating expenses amounted to
$50 million. Of this amount, $27 million was for marketing and business development and $19 million was for tourism programs.
Marketing and business development includes two significant areas that focus on international trade and international marketing.
External revenues, for the year amounted to approximately
$1 million.
Scope of work
In addition to the annual financial audit, we applied specified audit procedures on key performance measures included in the Ministry’s 2000-2001 annual report.
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Expenses
Last year we recommended (2000—No. 12) that the Department of Economic Development ensure that expenses and assets arising from new initiatives are disclosed in its financial statements based on the substance of the transactions.
During 1999-2000 the Department entered into an agreement with a contractor to promote Alberta’s interests at Expo 2000 in Germany, from June through October 2000. Under the terms of the agreement, the Contractor opened and maintained a bank account for receiving contributions and making payments for this project. This bank account belongs to the Department. In its financial statements, the Department included the transfer of funds into this bank account as an expense rather than as an asset.
The Department implemented our recommendation
In the Department’s financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2001, it included the transfer of funds into this bank account as an asset and payments made from the bank account as an expense. The Department also recorded contributions deposited into this bank account as revenue. Accordingly, we consider the
Department has implemented our recommendation.
Ministry financial statements
We conducted an audit of the financial statements of the Ministry of Economic Development as at and for the year ended
March 31, 2001. The auditor’s report contained a reservation of opinion. The reservation resulted from the Ministry not recording all capital assets.
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Ministry Audits and Recommendations Environment
Environment
Overview
The Ministry comprises the Department of Environment, the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Fund, the Natural Resources Conservation Board, and the Environmental Appeal Board. The Ministry’s mission emphasizes the stewardship and sustainable development of Alberta’s renewable natural resources.
The Ministry implements its mission through its two core businesses, resource management and environmental hazard management. In 2000-01, the Ministry recorded $135.2 million of external revenue while expending $360.9 million on its businesses.
In pursuit of its mission, the Ministry is responsible for activities as diverse as forest fire fighting, fish and wildlife preservation,
environmental standard setting, and monitoring discharges into the air and water. The Ministry is constantly in contact with other Ministries, governments, and private entities as it performs its tasks.
Many organizations and individuals are interested in how the
Ministry succeeds in its mission. As a result, planning and reporting systems within the Ministry are challenged to serve the needs of many stakeholders. This year, we reviewed the Ministry’s system to develop performance measures and commented on the form of the Ministry business plan. We were able to make recommendations that will enhance these processes and products.
In the past few years, we have performed several systems audits and, as a result, have made numerous recommendations to the Ministry. During 2000-2001, we examined how the Ministry has addressed many of these recommendations. In the case of
Integrated Resource Management and Regulatory Approvals Systems, we have repeated our earlier recommendations. Our repeated recommendations are reworded as necessary to accommodate changes that have taken place since our original work. In the case of the Financial Administration of Fire Fighting and Delegated Administrative Organizations, the Ministry’s progress has been satisfactory and, in some cases, our recommendations have been successfully implemented.
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Scope of work
In addition to the annual financial audit of the Ministry and Department of Environment, the following work was completed:
• At the invitation of the Deputy Minister, we examined the Ministry’s performance measurement initiative. This led us to review the form of the Ministry’s business plan.
• We followed up progress on our 1997-1998 recommendation that performance measures be identified to assess the
contribution of the Integrated Resource Management initiative.
• We followed up progress on our 1998-1999 recommendations regarding the Department’s financial administration of fire fighting.
• We followed up progress on our 1998-1999 recommendation that the Department implement the Financial Security Risk Assessment Model.
• We followed up progress on last year’s recommendation that the Department fully implement and continue to refine its system for monitoring its Delegated Administrative Organizations.
• We monitored progress related to the fish management recommendation from last year’s Annual Report. As the recommendation dealt with the business planning cycle, the Department will not be able to implement our recommendation until 2001-2002. We will report the status of this
recommendation in detail next year.
• We applied specified auditing procedures to the performance measures that will be presented in the Ministry’s Annual Report.