With the continued use of Treasury Board’s accounting policies, the Ministry has not reported its costs of teachers’ pensions properly.
The Ministry follows policies set by Treasury Board to prepare its financial plan (Estimates) and to account for its activities. In our audit report on the 2008 financial statements of the General Revenue Fund7, we continue to report that Treasury Board does not use Canadian generally accepted accounting policies for the public sector to account for pension costs.
4The government’s centralized payroll and payment system is called the Multi-informational Database Applications System (MIDAS).
5The Student Data System allows the Ministry to monitor the enrolment and movement of students from kindergarten to Grade 12 across the province.
6The Grants system is used by the Ministry to calculate the school operating grants that are paid to school divisions.
7Public Accounts 2007-08: Volume 1: Main Financial Statements, Auditor’s Report [on the General Revenue Fund]. pp. 33-34.
Chapter 5 – Education
As a result, for the year ended March 31, 2008 the Ministry understates the amount of teachers’ pension and benefit costs reported in its annual report by $345 million (2007 - understated by $235 million) and
understates the amount it owes for teachers’ pensions by $3.19 billion (2007 - $2.84 billion). We report this concern in our report on the Ministry of Finance.
Status of other outstanding recommendations of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
The following table provides an update on recommendations previously made by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) that are not yet implemented and are not discussed earlier in this chapter.8
Table 2 PAC REPORT
YEAR9
OUTSTANDING RECOMMENDATION STATUS
Ministry of Education (formerly the Department of Learning) 1999 CR60.The Department should require
school divisions to prepare their financial statements following the standards recommended by the [The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants] CICA.
Not implemented(as at March 31, 2008).
The Ministry is taking the lead on the project to have all school divisions comply with GAAP. The Ministry is targeting August 31, 2009 for all school divisions to be in
compliance with GAAP. It continues to work with the school divisions to meet this target.
2005 PAC concurs:
13-1 that the Department of Learning should obtain from school divisions comparisons of planned and actual costs and timing by key stage for each
approved project.
Partially implemented(as at October 31, 2005).
We followed up this work in October 2005.
We plan to do a second follow-up in 2009-10.
8For the definitions of the key terms used in the table, see Chapter 21 – Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
9PAC Report Year refers to the year that PAC first made the recommendation in its report to the Legislative Assembly.
PAC REPORT
YEAR9
OUTSTANDING RECOMMENDATION STATUS
2005 PAC concurs:
13-2 that the Department of Learning should document its assessment of the processes that its partners use to identify and mitigate significant risks or set its own processes to identify and mitigate significant risks on approved capital projects.
Partially implemented(as at October 31, 2005).
We followed up on this work in October 2005. We plan to do a second follow-up in 2009-10.
2007 PAC concurs:
3-1 that the Department of Learning's human resource plan should:
- Quantify its human resource needs;
- Provide details on human resource gap between actual and required resources;
- Provide details on plans to implement the major strategies.
Not implemented(as at March 31, 2008).
Management informed us that the 2008-2009 Human Resource Plan has been developed and is in the approval stages.
Therefore, our office was unable to assess if improvements have been made to the plan.
2007 PAC concurs:
3-2 that the Department of Learning should sign a service level agreement with the Information Technology Office.
Not implemented(as at March 31, 2008).
The Ministry continues to work with the Information Technology Office to establish a service level agreement.
Environment
Main points ... 80 Introduction ... 81 Audit conclusions and findings ... 82 Supervision of staff needed ... 83 Need to follow revenue guidance ... 83 Segregation of duties ... 85 Need to supervise reconciliations of bank accounts ... 85 Need to follow payroll guidance... 86 Need to follow guidance for preparing financial records and financial
reports ... 86 Established processes needed ... 88 Processes required for monitoring agreements ... 88 Adequate service level agreement needed... 88 Information technology processes needed ... 89 Complete business continuity plan ... 90 Making changes to lease rates... 91 Improving compliance reporting ... 91 Timely audited financial statements needed ... 92 Status of other outstanding recommendations of the Standing Committee on
Public Accounts... 92
Main points
The Ministry of Environment needs to establish adequate processes and supervise staff. It should have adequate processes to:
monitor agreements
sign an adequate agreement with the Information Technology Office for information technology services
develop an information technology plan
secure its systems and data
prepare a complete business continuity plan
change lease rates and customer information
define and document its compliance reporting needs
The Ministry also needs to supervise staff to ensure they follow the Ministry’s policies and procedures for:
billing, collecting, and recording lease, and forestry fees revenues promptly
reviewing reconciliations of its bank recorded bank balances to the bank’s records promptly
segregating the duties of the employees responsible for disbursement or expenditure of public money
preparing the amount owing to terminated employees
preparing accurate and timely financial records and financial statements for the Fish and Wildlife Development Fund and the Commercial Revolving Fund
Chapter 6 – Environment
Introduction
The Ministry of Environment (Ministry) is responsible for managing, enhancing, and protecting the Province’s natural and environmental resources and sustaining them for future generations.1Information about the Ministry is available on its website (www.environment.gov.sk.ca/).
For the year ended March 31, 2008, the Ministry’s program costs were
$168 million (2007 – $194 million) and its net capital acquisitions were
$9 million. Also, the Ministry had revenue of $47 million (2007 –
$52 million) from licences and permit fees for fishing, hunting, and forestry. It also collects non-refundable deposits on beverage containers.
In addition, the Ministry raises revenue and incurs expenses through its funds listed on the next page.
Information about the Ministry’s revenues and expenses appear in the Ministry’s 2007-08 annual report, (see www.environment.gov.sk.ca). The Ministry’s major programs and spending include:
Original Estimates Actual (Millions of dollars)
Central Management and Services $ 17 $ 16
Environmental Protection and Water
Management 26 54
Forest Services 14 13
Fire Management and Forest Protection 84 58
Fish, Wildlife and Biodiversity 10 10
Compliance and Field Services 15 15
Planning and Risk Analysis 12 9
Other 5 6
$ 183 $ 181
The Ministry is responsible for managing the following special purpose and revolving funds (funds) and Crown agencies:
1Section 3 ofThe Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2002.
Year ended March 31
Commercial Revolving Fund (until November 21, 2007) Fish and Wildlife Development Fund
Resource Protection and Development Revolving Fund Operator Certification Board
Saskatchewan Watershed Authority Water Appeal Board
After November 21, 2007, the Commercial Revolving Fund became the responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Culture, and Sport.
However, the Ministry of Environment continues to provide day-to-day administration of the Commercial Revolving Fund.
On April 1, 2007, the assets and liabilities of the Resource Protection and Development Revolving Fund became the responsibility of the Ministry.
On May 14, 2008,The Natural Resources Actwound up the Revolving Fund.
Audit conclusions and findings
We worked with Deloitte & ToucheLLP, the appointed auditor for the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, and Mintz & Wallace, the appointed auditor for the Operator Certification Board, to form our opinions. We used the framework recommended in theReport of the Task Force on Roles, Responsibilities and Duties of Auditors
(www.auditor.sk.ca/rrd.html). Our Office and the appointed auditors formed the following opinions.
In our opinion, for the year ended March 31, 2008:
the Ministry and its agencies had adequate rules and procedures to safeguard public resources except for the matters described in this chapter
the Ministry and its agencies complied with the authorities governing their activities relating to financial reporting, safeguarding public resources, revenue raising, spending, borrowing, and investing except for the matters described in this chapter
Chapter 6 – Environment
the financial statements of the Ministry’s agencies are reliable
The Ministry needs to do more to supervise staff and establish adequate processes to safeguard public resources.