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The Treasury Board (The Board) is a statutory committee of Cabinet, established under the Financial Administration Act. It consists of six ministers, including the President of the Treasury Board (Chairperson) and the Minister of Finance. In June 1997, the Prime Minister designated the Treasury Board as the government's management board. In addition to the traditional roles of the Treasury Board and its Secretariat as employer and expenditure manager, the management board is also expected to have a comprehensive view of government operations and to provide sustained leadership in improving management practices.
The responsibilities of the Treasury Board include:
A Treasury Board Submission is an official document submitted by a minister on behalf of her or his department to seek approval or authority from Treasury Board ministers to carry out a proposal that otherwise the department would not be able to undertake, or would be outside its delegated authorities.
The recommendations and advice from the Secretariat on a particular submission are provided to the Treasury Board in documents referred to as précis.
Legislation, Treasury Board policies, or other Cabinet decisions usually establish the requirements for Treasury Board approval.
Typical examples include seeking Treasury Board authority to:
A department may submit a proposal to the Board if it believes that the latter's collective judgement is necessary or desirable.
The table below shows the timelines and process for preparing a submission. Though the shortest possible time to process a submission from start to finish is approximately six weeks, most submissions require several more weeks in order to ensure content is finalized and issues resolved. Two to three months is the average processing time for a Submission. Some departments build in an additional month for submissions requiring inter-departmental consultation or sign-off.
Week |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
1 |
The Secretariat analyst receives draft #1 of Treasury Board submission from department |
The Secretariat analyst provides comments to department |
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2 |
Meeting (if required) to discuss the Secretariat analyst's comments |
The Secretariat analyst receives draft #2 of submission from department |
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3 |
The Secretariat analyst provides further comments to department |
Meeting (if required) to discuss the Secretariat analyst's comments |
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Note: More time may be needed to revise the draft submission further. |
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4 |
Penultimate draft submission due to the Secretariat analyst |
The Secretariat analyst drafts précis and recommendation |
The Secretariat analyst's draft précis due to the Secretariat senior management |
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Submission signed by minister due in SCDC2 by noon |
Briefing books to Treasury Board ministers |
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6 |
Treasury Board meeting |
The Secretariat analyst informs departmental Corporate Services of Treasury Board decision |
The objectives of the audit were to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the Treasury Board Submission process and identify areas of risk within the process for which controls should be in place. The audit included the following:
The scope of the audit included the Secretariat's processes supporting its role to assist departments with the preparation of their Submissions and the work done by TBS analysts to prepare the précis and Submission for presentation to Treasury Board. For purposes of the audit, the Treasury Board Submission process included all the activities performed by the Treasury Board Secretariat:
This audit assessed whether controls were in place to ensure identified risks are addressed and that there is integrity throughout the entire process. It also assessed whether the Secretariat's processes are effective in assisting organizations with the preparation of submissions. Ministerial views on the quality of the advice and recommendations were not sought.
The following table provides a high level overview of the different activities that Ernst & Young undertook to conduct the internal audit of the Treasury Board Submission process.
Approach and Work plan |
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Activity 1: Perform preliminary planning for the audit |
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Activity 2: Obtain an overall understanding of the Process. |
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Activity 3: Identify and Assess Risks |
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Activity 4: Finalize and Report |
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