Quarterly Financial Report for the quarter ended December 31, 2024

1. Introduction

This quarterly financial report has been prepared by management as required by section 65.1 of the Financial Administration Act and in the form and manner prescribed by the Treasury Board. It should be read in conjunction with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates. This quarterly financial report has not been subject to an external audit or review.

The Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC) is responsible for providing support services and facilities to several federal administrative tribunals by way of a single, integrated organization. These services include the specialized services required by each tribunal (e.g., registry, research and analysis, legal and other mandate or case activities specific to each tribunal), as well as internal services (e.g., human resources, financial services, information management and technology, accommodations, security, planning and communications).

Further information on the mandate, roles, responsibilities and programs of the ATSSC can be found in the organization’s 2024-25 Departmental Plan.

1.1. Basis of Presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes ATSSC’s spending authorities granted by Parliament, and those used by the department consistent with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. This quarterly report has 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 money 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.

When Parliament is dissolved for purposes of a general election, section 30 of the Financial Administration Act authorizes the Governor General, under certain conditions, to issue a special warrant authorizing the Government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. A special warrant is deemed to be an appropriation for the fiscal year in which it is issued.

ATSSC uses the full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual departmental financial statements that are part of the departmental results reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis.

2. Highlights of Fiscal Quarter and Fiscal Year-to-Date Results

This section highlights the significant items that contributed to the net increase or decrease in authorities available for the year, and actual expenditures for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

The ATSSC’s financial structure is mainly composed of voted budgetary authorities, namely Vote 1—Net Program Expenditures, Vote Netted Revenue (VNR) authority, as well as budgetary statutory authority for contributions to employee benefit plans. The VNR authority gives the ATSSC authority to recover expenditures from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Employment Insurance (EI) operating accounts. Graph 1 below shows the ATSSC’s budgetary authorities and expenditures for the third quarter of 2024-2025. For more details, refer to the Statement of Authorities table presented in Annex A.

Graph 1: Total authorities available for use and total expenditures for the third quarter (in thousands of dollars)

The ATSSC expended $67.4 million (77% of total authorities available for use) in the third quarter of 2024-2025. This compares to $71.3 million (81% of total authorities available for use) in the same quarter of 2023-2024. The majority of expenditures in the third quarter of 2024-2025 are related to personnel and totaled $73.3 million (88.5% of gross expenditures). The remaining $9.5 million is primarily related to professional and special services (mainly informatics services, translation costs and consulting services) and rental costs.

2.1. Significant Changes to Authorities

(Please refer to the Statement of Authorities table presented in Annex A.)

As of December 31, 2024, the net authorities available for use totaled $88.0 million, a decrease of $0.4 million compared to the prior year. There are no significant changes to authorities this quarter.

2.2. Significant Changes to Expenditures

(Please refer to the Departmental Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object table presented in Annex B.)

Expenditures for the Third Quarter

Third quarter gross budgetary expenditures decreased from $27.1 million in 2023-2024 to $21.4 million in 2024-2025 mainly due to a decrease in personnel expenditures ($5.3 million) consisting of employee departures and funding received in 2023-2024 related to employee compensation as a result of new collective agreements.

Expenditures Year-to-Date

The year-to-date gross budgetary expenditures decreased from $71.3 million in 2023-2024 to $67.4 million in 2024-2025 mainly due to a decrease in personnel expenditures ($1.7 million) consisting of employee departures, and a decrease in professional and special services expenditures ($2.2 million) specifically related to a reduction in project consultant costs.