Quarterly Financial Report for the quarter ended September 30, 2011

Mandate and program activities

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL) supports the Commissioner of Official Languages in fulfilling his mandate, which consists of taking all actions and measures within his authority to ensure recognition of the status of each of the official languages and compliance with the spirit and intent of the Official Languages Act in the administration of the affairs of federal institutions, including any of their activities relating to the advancement of English and French in Canadian society.

Further information about OCOL's responsibilities and program activities can be found in the 2011-2012 Report on Plans and Priorities and the Main Estimates.

Basis of presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes OCOL's spending authorities granted by Parliament and used by OCOL, consistent with the Main Estimates for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. This quarterly report has also been prepared using a special purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities.

The authority of Parliament is required before moneys can be spent by the government. Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.

OCOL uses the full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual financial statements which are part of the organization's performance reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament are prepared on an expenditure basis.

Significant changes to authorities

As of September 30, 2011, total authorities available for the fiscal year had not significantly changed compared to the preceding year. The authorities have been slightly reduced, by 1.4%, mainly as a result of the decrease in the operating budget carry forward, which went from $892,439 in 2010-2011 to $552,908 in 2011-2012.

Significant changes to budgetary expenditures

OCOL has spent approximately 48% of its authorities as of September 30, 2011, of which 85% represent personnel costs.

Compared to the preceding fiscal year, the expenditures have increased by $484,000 or 9.0%, from $5.355 million to $5.839 million. Personnel costs increased by $1.0 million due to severance liquidation payments paid to eligible employees. However, this sum will be covered by the Treasury Board Secretariat and is a new initiative effective in 2011-2012. This increase is offset by a decrease of $555,000 in the expenditures related to professional services. In the first two quarters of 2010-2011, OCOL spent more for consulting management services as the result of an A-Base review and an analysis of its information management/information technology (IM/IT) needs. These variances are reflected in the table "Departmental Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object" under the categories “Personnel” and “Professional and special services.”

Funding required for IM/IT

OCOL is still facing a risk due to the inadequacy of its IM/IT systems. A Treasury Board submission has been sent to request the one-time funding required to upgrade its deteriorating applications because the current authorities available are not sufficient. This investment would allow OCOL to optimize its business processes in order to improve its productivity and efficiency and to generate savings over the next two years.

A-Base Review

Management is presently implementing the action plan prepared in response to the A-Base Review conducted in 2010-2011. This review identified several pressures within the organization as well as opportunities for optimizing the resources.

Budget 2010

The cost containment measures announced in Budget 2010 are another financial risk OCOL faces because it has to absorb salary increases that have been agreed on in collective agreements through its A-Base funding. Management is presently reviewing various options to adjust to this financial constraint.

Budget 2011

OCOL agrees to adhere to the spirit and intent of the Strategic and Operating Review announced in Budget 2011. Management is analyzing its financial capability while taking into account the results of the implementation of the A-Base Review action plan and the results of the IM/IT funding request.