Environment Canada's Three-Year Risk-Based Audit and Evaluation Plan 2009-2012
4. Resources and Capacity
- 4.1 Person Month (PM) Allocation and Professional Services
- 4.2 Distribution of Resources by Function
The AEB, reporting directly to the Deputy Minister, consists of an executive level CAE/Director General Audit and Evaluation; Directors of strategic planning and coordination, internal audit and evaluation; eight current internal auditors (with two positions currently being staffed); one senior officer for external audits; one evaluation associate director; nine evaluators; one senior officer and one junior officer in SPC.
For 2009-2010, professional resource requirements to carry out audit engagements, evaluation projects and planning and coordination are 208 person months and $540,000. For the same period, there are 196 person months available. The Branch has a shortfall of 12 PM in SPC which will be offset by utilizing professional contractors and students to assist in the delivery of work.
A breakdown of the person month allocation and professional services by function is shown below. These figures do not include resources dedicated to management activities.
4.1 Person Month (PM) Allocation and Professional Services
| Function | Person Month (PM)* | Professional Services ** $K |
|---|---|---|
| Internal audit engagements | 713 | 144 |
| Evaluation projects | 764 | 155 |
| External audits | 15 | |
| Strategic planning and coordination | 455 | 2416 |
| TOTAL | 208 | 540 |
| Available Staff Resources | 196 |
* Person month description by category:
- Internal audit engagements include all resources dedicated to internal audit engagements, and recommendations follow-up
- Evaluation projects include all resources dedicated to evaluation projects and resources required for projects led by other departments and agencies.
- External audits include resources dedicated to the coordination of audits being carried out by the OAG, the CESD and other organizations.
- Strategic planning and coordination includes resources dedicated to risk-based planning and reporting, support to DEC and EAAC, quality assurance, AEB corporate planning and reporting (e.g., MAF, RPP, DPR, Integrated Business Plan, Branch Human Resource Plan) and environmental petitions.
** Professional services include:
- Resource requirements for consulting services contracts.
The number of person months required for each of the projects is based on historical data from the Time Recording System. Some carry over is unavoidable due to requirements to contribute personnel to corporate priorities, changes within a program (e.g., personnel, policy direction), delays associated with consultation and approval processes.
4.2 Distribution of Resources by Function
The following figure provides a breakdown of all AEB activities and resources by function for 2009–2010, including resources dedicated to the EAAC/DEC. This figure also includes management activities.
Based on the planned resources shown in Figure 1, it is estimated that the Audit and Evaluation Branch will have the capacity to deliver on its plan for 2009–2010.
Figure 1: Distribution of Resources by Function
Statement of Constraints
It is expected that AEB will achieve coverage of its highest audit and evaluation priorities over the three-year planning horizon. In general, the highest audit and evaluation priorities are scheduled for completion, earliest in the planning cycle. Exceptions to this rule may occur when the feasibility of conducting an audit or evaluation is in question, owing to factors such as major changes, new priorities, lack of resources or subject matter expertise, etc. In such cases, the CAE will bring this to the attention of the EAAC/DEC for formal consideration and approval by the Deputy Minister.
The new evaluation policy requires that all direct program spending be evaluated on a five-year cycle, which equates to 20 per cent coverage per year. Although departments have until March 31, 2013 to ensure evaluation coverage requirements of the plan are implemented, full implementation of evaluation coverage requirements will require a doubling of current coverage (i.e., current evaluation coverage is approximately 10 per cent of direct program spending per year) from 2009 to 2013.
In order to be in compliance with coverage requirements of the new evaluation policy by 2013, increases in resources devoted to evaluations will need to be made in each of the four years of the policy’s implementation phase. The MAF Assessment will be examining the degree to which the Evaluation Division is increasing its coverage each year during the implementation period. As such, implementation of the new policy will add additional pressures on evaluation resources in the context of the Audit and Evaluation Plan for 2010 to 2013.
3 Includes 2 person months for conducting special investigations and 5 person months for CAE Holistic Opinion [Back]
4 Includes 5.5 person months for consultations and advice [Back]
5 Includes IMIT Plan and Financial Plan [Back]
6 Includes $206K for EAAC. [Back]