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In order to ensure that travel activities are well managed and that suitable management practices and controls are in place and functioning, the audit of Travel Expenses was included in the 2006-07 Audit and Evaluation Plan.
Finance and Corporate Branch of Environment Canada (EC) is responsible for financial policies, directives, monitoring and systems related to travel expenses and the proactive disclosure of travel expenses. The accounting offices within Finance and Corporate Branch are responsible for the final processing of the requisitions for payment under Section 33 of the Financial Administration Act (FAA), following approval by the delegated manager who exercises his/her authority under Sections 32 and 34 of the FAA. Managers with delegated authority should be familiar with TB and EC policies and directive when exercising Section 32 or Section 34. They are responsible for confirming and certifying entitlement and for the correctness of the payment requested and the account verification procedures performed. At the time of the audit, the National Capital Region (NCR) and Ontario Region accounting offices were also responsible for providing detailed and accurate information on the travel expenses for selected government officials to the Finance and Corporate Branch for the publication of proactive disclosure on the internet.
The overall objective of the audit was to determine whether Environment Canada's travel practices comply with the TravelDirective, the Guidelines for Ministers' Offices and the Special Travel Authorities issued by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and the policy issued by Environment Canada. The specific objectives of the audit were:
The audit considered all travel expense claims processed between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2006. The relocation expenses were excluded as they are covered by another policy.
Multiple sources of information were used to support the findings and conclusions. These included an extensive review of relevant policies, procedures and directives, and interviews and consultation with financial staff. Furthermore, based on a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 7%, a random sample of 204 travel expenses were tested against the audit criteria. A judgemental sample of 45 high risk travel claims such as international trips, trips with a high value, etc. was also included in the testing. The audit also included a review of all travel expense claims for 40 individuals requiring the proactive disclosure of travel expenses to ensure that all travel claims were appropriately published on the internet.
In our professional judgement, sufficient and appropriate audit procedures have been conducted and evidence gathered to support the accuracy of the conclusions reached and contained in this report. The conclusions were based on a comparison of the situations, as they existed at the time, against the audit criteria.
Environment Canada has an adequate management control framework in place that includes a departmental policy and a clear accountability framework. Some inconsistencies in the monitoring practices and communication and training tools across the regions were identified however; these are being addressed as part of the transformation of the travel process currently underway. The extent of the departmental compliance with the Treasury Board Travel Directive and Environment Canada Travel Policy is generally high. Although the audit identified some weaknesses in administrative practices including pre-authorization of travel and documentation in support of travel expenses, all trips were assessed as being business related. The extent of the departmental compliance with the Treasury Board Guidance document, Proactive Disclosureof Travel Expenses, is also generally high, although a small number of reported travel dates contained errors. Improvements should be made to ensure the accuracy of the reported dates of travel.
Finance and Corporate Branch is currently working on the transformation of the travel process. Many elements of the new process will address the issues highlighted in the audit report. As such, Audit and Evaluation has made recommendations only in areas not addressed in the new process. However, AEB will conduct a follow-up to ensure that all elements of the new process are implemented as expected.
The Director General, Finance Directorate should:
The purpose of the following is to provide the management response to the recommendations to the recent audit of Travel Expenses. The action items contained in our responses should be all implemented before the end of June 2007.
As indicated in the audit report, the Finance and Corporate Branch is currently working on the transformation of both the domestic and international travel processes. Many of the new processes being implemented over the next few months will address the issues highlighted in the audit report.
While the recommendations found in the audit report touch areas that at the time of the report were not addressed in the new processes, the department has since undertaken corrective measures to ensure the action items outlined in the responses are integrated into overall plan for corrective actions.
An "EC Finance Website Advisory Group" was created In June of 2005 with the objective of making recommendations to the Finance community on the design, development and implementation of a single EC Finance website.
While the implementation of a unique departmental website did not take place due to difficulties in obtaining technical support for a new Web page editing tool, significant progress has been made in the realization of this objective. For example:
The Finance website unit within Financial Operations is currently involved in a departmental working group, lead by the Communications Branch, which is looking to standardize all the websites within the department.
The current Departmental Travel Policy and Travel Training Guide are currently being updated to reflect the new changes in the travel processes. The revised travel policy and training guide should be available to the departmental end-user community by mid May, 2007.
We agree with the recommendation. The Financial Policy, Systems and Operations Division will be issuing a communiqué before April 20th, 2007 to inform the Travel Expert System user community that the use of the Frequent Travel Authority Code (FTA) is included on all travel authority records when applicable.
Special instructions will also be issued to all the Managers Financial Services and to the Managers of the Accounting Offices prior to March 31st, 2007 to ensure they inform their clients of the requirement to reference their FTA on the travel authority before renewing their FTA for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
We agree with the recommendation. A communiqué from the Director General, Finance Directorate will be sent out by April 20th to the Travel Expert System end-user community and end-user support network informing them of the requirement to provide sufficient information/documentation to support the entire travel period.
Furthermore, a process to capture multiple attendances at conferences, along with a mechanism to ensure that sufficient justification/explanation for non senior or support level is provided when travelling to international conferences, will be developed.
The Financial Policy, Systems and Operations Division will also be issuing special instructions to all the Accounting Offices by the end of April 2007 requesting that the pre-audit function include ensuring that sufficient information/documentation to support the entire travel period is included with each travel claim. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the travel claim being returned to the traveller with a request that he/she provides the necessary documentation.
We agree with the recommendation. The Director General, Finance Directorate will ensure that those persons subject to mandatory disclosure are obligated to disclose the entire period of travel where expenses were incurred and ensure that the dates disclosed reflect the entire period prior to the next disclosure period, i.e. June 1st, 2007.
Financial Policy, Systems and Operations Division will also issue a memorandum to all the Accounting Offices and the support staff of those persons subject to mandatory disclosure to remind them of the requirement to disclose the entire period of travel expense, as well as, to ensure the dates disclosed reflect the entire period.
The Division will review its current monitoring practices to ensure all submissions comply with this directive before being posted to the department's website.