4. Departmental assessment results:

The following summarizes key assessment results from the design and operating effectiveness testing completed by the CFIA to date.

Design effectiveness of key controls

When completing design effectiveness testing, the CFIA updated business process documentation and validated key processes with the stakeholders. Design effectiveness testing also validated the appropriate alignment of each key control with risks. During the fiscal year of 2010-2011, the CFIA conducted design effectiveness tests in the areas of value and ethics, competency of financial staff, revenue management, payroll, and operating and maintenance expenses.

The results from the design effectiveness testing identified the need for the following:

• Implementing a monitoring / reconciliation process to ensure that service requests are reconciled to invoices;

Operating effectiveness of key controls

When assessing the operating effectiveness of key controls, the CFIA considered the results of the financial statement audits by the OAG, the recent internal audit reports, and the sample testing performed by the self-assessment team. During the fiscal year of 2010-2011, the CFIA conducted operating effectiveness tests in the areas of values and ethics, competency of financial staff, and operating and maintenance expenses.

The results from the operating effectiveness testing identified the need for the following:

• Update the commitment policy and ensure that policy requirements are clearly communicated to managers and administrative staff,
• Periodic acknowledgement of managers' responsibility under the CFIA Code of Conduct and the Financial Administration Act (FAA); and
• Increased communication among financial staff to share information vertifically and horizontally.