Alberta’s Auditor General highlights progress implementing recommendations

Procurement Processes—Transportation and Economic Corridors (assessment of implementation of outstanding recommendations)
Economy and Efficiency of Cash Management—Treasury Board and Finance (assessment of implementation of outstanding recommendations)
Primary Care Networks—Health (progress report on outstanding recommendations)
Report on Post-secondary Institutions 2024—Advanced Education (annual recurring work)
School Authority Compliance with Annual Reporting Requirements—Education (new performance audit)

Procurement Processes Assessment of Implementation

“I am pleased to report that the department has implemented all three recommendations from our December 2023 audit of Procurement Processes for its construction projects,” said Wylie. “The implemented recommendations improve controls for posting periods, enhance documentation controls, and strengthen access controls for procurement information systems.”

Economy and Efficiency of Cash Management Assessment of Implementation

The Auditor General is pleased to report that the department has implemented four recommendations from his office’s February 2016 audit on the Economy and Efficiency of Cash Management—evaluate case management for efficiency and economy, implement and use technology to manage cash, use leading banking and related practices and evaluate cost benefits of bank accounts, and improve policies for payment.

“After making necessary process enhancements, the department estimates that the new cash pooling structure reduced the province’s borrowing requirements by $1.7 billion at March 31, 2024,” said Wylie. “This means a savings of $46.6 million in interest costs.”

Primary Care Networks Progress Report

Alberta’s Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are team-based primary healthcare delivery organizations. The Auditor General followed up on the department’s progress on two October 2017 recommendations: evaluate PCN effectiveness and inform Albertans of PCN services.

“The department has made progress in some key areas, but it still has work to do to fully implement our recommendations,” said Wylie.

The current effort to restructure the provincial healthcare system, and particularly the establishment of a primary care-focused provincial health agency, may impact the oversight and accountabilities of PCNs including changes to the name and operating structures of PCNs. The exact impact of the restructuring on PCNs is currently unknown.

Officials say the department plans to complete many of the remaining actions for implementing these recommendations as part of its Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Healthcare System (MAPS) initiative. The department said that the parts of MAPS relevant to these recommendations will be completed by March 2026, and they will fully assess implementation once MAPS is completed.

Report on Post-secondary Institutions 2024 (Advanced Education)

The Auditor General issued a clean audit opinion on the 2024 financial statements of the 20 post-secondary institutions his office audits.

“The number of institutions we have assessed requiring improvements in financial statement preparation processes is its lowest since the start of the report card in 2011,” said Wylie. “Strong, sustainable financial reporting processes and internal controls improve management’s decision-making ability and provide opportunities to use results analysis to communicate to Albertans the institution’s performance and accountability for results.”

Olds College was able to complete more accurate financial reporting in less time than in 2023. The college has begun to make improvements to its financial reporting process and controls, but significant improvement is still required.

The Auditor General issued a new recommendation to Bow Valley College to improve its purchasing policy and consistently apply it to all contracts. The Auditor General found the existing purchasing policy lacked important elements to support sole-sourcing decisions and conflict-of-interest assessments were not consistently applied.

“For one sole-source contract we examined, the college’s only supporting documentation was the sole-sourced contract signed by the college’s president and chief executive officer. The college did not have documented evidence to support a sole-source contract was justified and was supported by a conflict-of-interest assessment,” said Wylie. “Not doing so carries significant financial and reputational risks.”

The report also includes four implemented recommendations:

Medicine Hat College and the University of the Arts implemented their outstanding recommendations related to testing and monitoring of internal controls.
Lakeland College and Northwestern Polytechnic improved their controls over information technology environment and access. Lakeland College implemented processes to remove access for terminated employees promptly. Northwestern Polytechnic improved processes for disaster recovery and physical security of data centres.

The Auditor General notes that four institutions have a total of 10 previous outstanding recommendations, including Olds College that has six relating to financial reporting and operational processes and controls.

School Authority Compliance with Annual Reporting Requirements (Education)

This audit examined the effectiveness of the Department of Education’s processes to assess school authorities’ compliance with annual reporting requirements. Annual reporting is described as a critical accountability tool for school authorities to show their performance relative to their education plan and their contribution to the Ministry of Education’s outcomes and measures.

“While school authorities’ annual reports included valuable performance reporting information, if school authorities don’t comply with annual reporting requirements, results information will be incomplete or inaccurate, and opportunities for improvement or learnings will be missed,” said Wylie. “Parents, the community, and the department won’t be able to hold school authorities accountable for their current performance and determine where future operational changes are needed.”

The Auditor General found that the department does not have effective processes to ensure that school authorities comply with annual report requirements, and it can improve them. The report made two recommendations: improve the consistent execution of the annual report assessment process and improve the consistent execution of the annual report correction process.

All reports are available at oag.ab.ca.

The Office of the Auditor General is independent of government and those it audits. Its work is mandated in legislation, and is not negotiated under contract, ensuring its independence of what it audits and how it reports the results of its work. This ensures its work is objective. The Office of the Auditor General is a credible and trusted source of information on government spending and activities.

by rdnewsNOW staff