Quarterly financial report for the quarter ended September 30, 2017

Statement outlining results, risks and significant changes in operations, personnel and program

Introduction

This quarterly report was prepared by management as required by Section 65.1 of the Financial Administration Act and in the form and manner prescribed by the Treasury Board. It should be read in conjunction with the OPC Main and Supplementary Estimates (if applicable).

The OPC’s mandate is overseeing compliance with both the Privacy Act (PA), which covers the personal information-handling practices of federal government departments and agencies, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada’s private sector privacy law. Its mission is to protect and promote the privacy rights of individuals via the following four key programs:

• Compliance activities, related to the Office’s responsibility to investigate privacy-related complaints and respond to inquiries from individuals and organizations, review breach reports and have the power to initiate its own investigations when warranted (Commissioner initiated complaints). Through audits and reviews, the Office also assesses how well organizations are complying with requirements set out in the two federal privacy laws, and provides recommendations on Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs), pursuant to the Treasury Board Directive on Privacy Impact Assessment;
• Research and policy development, through which the Office serves as a centre of expertise on emerging privacy issues in Canada and abroad by researching trends and technological developments, monitoring and analysing legislative and regulatory initiatives, providing strategic legal, policy and technical advice on key issues, and developing policy positions that advance the protection of privacy rights in both the public and private sectors;
• Public outreach, through which the Office delivers public education and communications activities, including speaking engagements and special events, exhibiting, media relations, and the production and distribution of promotional and educational material;
• Internal services, which refers to activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of the OPC.

Detailed information on the OPC’s authority, mandate and programs can be found in our Departmental Plan (DP) and the Main Estimates.

Basis for Presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes the Office’s spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the Office, consistent with the Main Estimates and the Supplementary Estimates (as applicable) for fiscal year 2017-18. This quarterly report has been prepared using a special purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities. (More information)

The authority of Parliament is required before moneys can be spent by the Government. Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.

When Parliament is dissolved for the purposes of a general election, section 30 of the Financial Administration Act authorizes the Governor General, under certain conditions, to issue a special warrant authorizing the Government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. A special warrant is deemed to be an appropriation for the fiscal year in which it is issued.

The OPC uses full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual financial statements that are part of the departmental performance reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis.

This report has not been subject to an external audit or review.

Highlights of fiscal quarter and fiscal year to date (YTD) Results

This section highlights the significant variances between actual expenditures and planned expenditures that affected both the quarter and the year-to-date results, compared to the same period the preceding fiscal year.

Statement of authorities analysis

Permanent funding for the OPC remained stable over the past fiscal year. As reflected in the statement of authorities table (attached), total authorities available for the year are $24.3M compared to $24.5M in 2016-17. The variance is mainly explained by the adjustment to the employee benefit plans.

As of September 30, 2017, the OPC used 44% or $10.8M of its authorities available for the year.

The OPC provides Internal Support Services to other small government departments related to the provision of information technology services. Pursuant to section 29.2 of the Financial Administration Act, Internal Support Services agreements are recorded as revenues.

Budgetary expenditures by standard object analysis

As per the attached Departmental budgetary expenditures by standard object table, the OPC’s total budgetary expenditures as of September 30, 2017 decreased by $0.2M when compared to the same period last fiscal year. This relatively small decrease is mainly attributable to:

• A decrease in professional and special services, which include professional services, informatic technology specialists, legal service fees and translation service requests;
• A decrease in repairs and maintenance to the Office, and more specifically the upgrade of the networking equipment and servers completed at the end of September 2016;
• A small increase in personnel type expenditures.

Risks and Uncertainties

As mentioned in previous quarterly reports, the OPC’s key corporate risks are identified and assessed through an annual update of the Office’s Corporate Risk Profile. This year, the Office identified a number of key risks along with mitigating strategies in its Departmental Plan that could have a financial impact should they materialize.

For more information on these risks as well as measures being undertaken by the office to mitigate them, please refer to the section title Key risks: things that could affect our ability to achieve our plans and results of the OPC’s 2017-18 Departmental Plan.

In addition, the OPC continues to take actions to mitigate the issues arising from the implementation of the Phoenix pay system for its employees and to monitor closely any salary payments adjustments that may be required. These issues may have a greater impact as the OPC will process by year end all pay transactions resulting from the recent signing of collective agreements covering most employees.

Significant changes in relation to operations, personnel and programs

No significant changes related to operations, personnel or programs occurred during the second quarter of 2017-18.

Approval by Senior Officials:

Approved by

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Statement of Authorities (unaudited)
(in thousands of dollars)

	Fiscal year 2017-2018			Fiscal year 2016-2017
	Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2018	Used during the quarter ended September 30, 2017	Year to date used at quarter end	Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2017	Used during the quarter ended September 30, 2016	Year to date used at quarter end
Program expenditures	22,275	4,354	9,676	22,152	4,756	9,736
Less: Revenues Netted Against Espenditures	(200)	-	-	(115)	-	-
Budgetary statutory authority - Employee benefit plan	2,269	568	1,135	2,481	621	1,241
TOTAL AUTHORITIES	24,334	4,922	10,811	24,518	5,377	10,977

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Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object (unaudited)
(in thousands of dollars)

	Fiscal year 2017-2018			Fiscal year 2016-2017
	Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2018	Expended during the quarter ended September 30, 2017	Year to date used at quarter end	Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2017	Expended during the quarter ended September 30, 2016	Year to date used at quarter end
Expenditures
Personnel	16,724	4,141	9,228	16,908	4,519	9,052
Transportation and communications	886	129	246	894	114	272
Information	698	74	190	687	56	173
Professional and special services	3,655	382	579	3,885	531	850
Rentals	941	86	390	766	61	349
Repair and maintenance	299	5	27	228	52	111
Utilities, materials and supplies	227	12	32	210	19	44
Acquisition of machinery and equipment	613	17	38	552	17	28
Transfer payments	500	-	-	500	-	10
Other subsidies and paymentsFootnote *	1	76	81	3	8	88
Total budgetary expenditures	24,544	4,922	10,811	24,633	5,377	10,977
Less: revenues netted against expenditures
Internal Support Services	(200)	-	-	(115)	-	-
TOTAL BUDGETARY EXPENDITURES	24,344	4,922	10,811	24,518	5,377	10,977