ACFO on Budget 2019: Sustainable public services and strong financial controls
This week ACFO submitted a brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance as part of the committee’s 2019 pre-budget consultations. The focus of our recommendations this year was on ensuring economic growth while protecting the financial management framework.
We highlighted issues such as relaxed financial controls, insufficient resources required to oversee financial management and inadequate protections for those who might witness wrongdoing and wish to come forward. In doing so, we expressed our concern that combined these issues could create the perfect storm for fraud.
To address these potential risks, we recommended:
- that Treasury Board rescind the blanket approvals allowing Public Services and Procurement Canada to bypass federal financial rules in the event of Phoenix emergencies;
- that the government invest in increased financial management capacity and that this investment take the form of professional public service jobs; and
- that the government immediately implement the improvements to the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act outlined in the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates’ report on whistleblower protection of last year.
Throughout our submission, we emphasized the importance of sustainable, top-quality public services supported by strong financial controls.
You can read the full submission here.
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