Office of the Auditor General of Canada 2020–21 Departmental Plan

Operating context

Public Sector Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards are becoming increasingly complex in their application and require more time and effort to address. The size and nature of government continue to increase the volume and complexity of government transactions and the number of financial audits we are required to conduct each year. Information technology is changing rapidly, affecting how the organizations we audit collect and use data.

The key risk that the Office of the Auditor General of CanadaOAG faces is our ability to effectively acquire, develop, and use new technologies and methodologies to keep pace with the changing environment. We recently received the report from the international peer review team that audited the OAG at our request. The peer review team found that our system of quality control was suitably designed and effectively implemented and was impressed overall with the high standard of work done by the OAG. The team also noted the need to address emerging technologies.

Managing this risk means that the OAG must invest in its information technology security and architecture, including the modernization of audit tools and emerging technologies. As a result of this investment, the OAG is reducing the number of performance audits that it conducts to remain within current funding levels.