Quarterly Financial Report for the quarter ended December 31, 2022

Quarterly Financial Report for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 (PDF)

ISSN: 2563-8890

Statement Outlining Results, Risks and Significant Changes in Operations, Personnel and Programs

1. Introduction

This quarterly 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 2022-23 Main Estimates and the Directive on Accounting Standards, GC 4400 Departmental Quarterly Financial Report. This quarterly 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 a number of 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 2022-23 Departmental Plan.

1.1. Basis of Presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities (Annex A) includes the ATSSC's spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the ATSSC, consistent with the Main Estimates for the 2022-23 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.

The ATSSC uses the full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual departmental financial statements, which are part of the departmental results reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis. The main difference between the quarterly financial report and the departmental financial statements is the timing of when revenues and expenses are recognized.

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, 2022.

The ATSSC’s financial structure is mainly composed of voted budgetary authorities, namely Vote 1—Program Expenditures and Vote Netted Revenue (VNR) authority, as well as statutory authorities for contributions to employee benefit plans. The VNR gives the ATSSC authority to make recoverable expenditures against the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Employment Insurance (EI) operating accounts. Graph 1 below shows the ATSSC’s gross and net budgetary authorities and expenditures for the third quarter of 2022-23. For more details, refer to the Statement of Authorities table presented in Annex A.

Graph 1: Comparison of budgetary authorities and expenditures for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022, and December 31, 2021.

The ATSSC expended $78.0 million (63% of total authorities available for use), including Employee Benefit Plan (EBP), in the third quarter of 2022-23. This is compared to $67.4 million (58% of total authorities available for use) in the same quarter of 2021-22. The majority of expenditures in the third quarter of 2022-23 is related to personnel and totaled $67.7 million (87% of gross expenditures). The remaining $10.3 million primarily included 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, 2022, the net authorities available for use (including EBP) totaled $84.7 million, an increase of $6.3 million compared to the prior year. This increase is mainly due to the temporary funding received for addressing program integrity issues and the office relocation projects, as well as the funding received for compensation adjustments.

2.2. Significant Changes to Vote Netted Revenue (VNR)

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

As of December 31, 2022, the VNR authorities decreased from $38.8 million in 2021-22 to $38.4 million in 2022-23. There are no significant changes to VNR this quarter.

2.3. Significant Changes to Expenditures

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

Expenditures for the Quarter

Third quarter gross budgetary expenditures increased from $25.2 million in 2021-22 to $31.2 million in 2022-23 mainly due to an increase in personnel expenditures ($5.2 million) related to hiring additional employees to address new or modified tribunal mandates and the growth in caseload arising from external factors, and to the increase in salary rates resulting from the signing of collective agreements.

Expenditures Year-to-Date

The year-to-date gross budgetary expenditures increased from $67.4 million in 2021-22 to $78.0 million in 2022-23 mainly due to an increase in personnel expenditures ($9.8 million) related to hiring additional employees to address new or modified tribunal mandates, and to the increase in salary rates resulting from the signing of collective agreements.

3. Risks and Uncertainties

The ATSSC is exposed to a variety of risks in its operating environment that could have a negative effect in achieving its objectives. The ATSSC is monitoring these risks at all management levels through various lenses. This allows management to identify, evaluate and mitigate key risks by implementing risk mitigation strategies, which include the reallocation of resources, if so required.

Meeting the demanding and dynamic workloads of the tribunals it serves is central to the ATSSC’s operating context. Tribunal legislative and policy mandates are highly sensitive to external demands and, as a result, tribunals can at times face fluctuations in their caseloads, which can create unpredictable workloads. The vacancy rate in tribunal membership can impact when caseload is able to be addressed and is being monitored. The ATSSC continues to work closely with tribunals to identify factors that could affect caseloads, to allow the ATSSC to plan for operations and investments accordingly.

4. Significant Changes Related to Operations, Personnel and Programs

The ATSSC has completed the consolidation of mandate and member, registry, and legal services in eight secretariats into two integrated secretariats that support eight tribunals, resulting in cost effective and more efficient operations. The ATSSC continues to ramp up its activities following the transfer of new and modified mandates to the tribunals it provides services to. The ATSSC is implementing a long-term hybrid workplace strategy that provides flexibility to its employees and will contribute to reducing the overall infrastructure footprint of the Government of Canada while maintaining the high quality of service it is known for.

Approval by Senior Officials

Approved by:

________________________

Orlando Da Silva, LSM
Chief Administrator

_________________________________

Annie Rémillard
Director General Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer

Ottawa, Canada. February 28, 2023

ANNEX A

5. Statement of Authorities (unaudited)

(in dollars)

Authorities available for use	Fiscal year 2022-23: Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2023^{Footnote *}	Fiscal year 2022-23: Used during the quarter ended December 31, 2022	Fiscal year 2022-23: Year to date used at quarter end	Fiscal year 2021-22: Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2022^{Footnote *}	Fiscal year 2021-22: Used during the quarter ended December 31, 2021	Fiscal year 2021-22: Year to date used at quarter end
Vote 1— Program expenditures^{Footnote **}	111,248,723	28,346,259	69,532,693	105,902,258	22,358,810	58,992,606
Less: Revenues netted against expenditures	-38,355,112	-6,873,032	-14,122,149	-38,804,851	-7,472,246	-14,944,492
Net Program expenditures	72,893,611	21,473,227	55,410,544	67,097,407	14,886,564	44,048,114
Budgetary statutory authorities	11,820,039	2,830,342	8,491,027	11,274,095	2,818,524	8,455,571
Total Budgetary authorities	84,713,650	24,303,570	63,901,571	78,371,502	17,705,087	52,503,685

Footnote 1: Return to footnote* Referrer Includes only authorities available for use and granted by Parliament at quarter end.
Footnote 2: Return to footnote** Referrer Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) is excluded from Program expenditures as it is included in the Budgetary statutory authorities.

ANNEX B

6. Departmental Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object (unaudited)