About us

Government activities—The OAG audits a vast range of activities conducted by the Canadian federal government and the 3 territories. These activities cover topics such as health, the environment, finance, agriculture, transportation, and scientific research, to name only a few.

Environmental and sustainable development matters—The OAG’s work on environmental and sustainable development matters increased after the position of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development was created in 1995. As part of the Commissioner’s broad mandate, the Commissioner audits and reports on the federal government’s management of environmental and sustainable development issues.

The Auditor General does not audit topics that fall outside the OAG’s mandate. Examples are policy decisions, which are the prerogative of Parliament and government, and any areas under the exclusive jurisdiction of First Nations, provincial, or municipal governments.

Environmental petitions—On behalf of the Auditor General of Canada, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development administers the environmental petitions process.

Environmental petitions provide a way for Canadians to ask the federal government to respond to their concerns about the environment and sustainable development.

For example, petitions can be used to ask federal ministers and departments or agencies to explain federal policy, investigate environmental problems, or review legislation and regulations.

Wrongdoing disclosures under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act—Under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA), the Auditor General of Canada can only deal with disclosures of wrongdoing from current federal public sector employees (federal public servants) about the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada (OPSIC).

If you are a federal public servant and you want to make a disclosure of a wrongdoing about the OPSIC, please refer to our webpage, Disclosures of Wrongdoing Under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.

For information about the PSDPA and how to report wrongdoing, we invite you to consult the OPSIC, which handles complaints from federal public servants and members of the public and also has the authority to deal with reprisal complaints from current and former federal public servants. For additional resources about the PSDPA, please visit the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat website.

Activities within Canada—The OAG plays an active role in the Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors (CCOLA), which is made up of the federal and provincial audit offices.

International activities—The OAG participates in international activities, organizations and events that impact its legislative audit work. By collaborating with organizations and audit offices both elsewhere in Canada and across the world, the OAG strengthens its legislative audit practice and contributes to the development of auditing standards.

The OAG is committed to meeting its international obligations by sharing its expertise with international organizations involved in public sector accounting, auditing, and accountability activities. It participates in the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

The OAG provides capacity-building support to auditors from other national audit offices as part of the International Development Program of the Canadian Audit & Accountability Foundation. This program, funded by Global Affairs Canada, brings auditors from other national audit offices to Canada for 10 months of training in performance auditing, accountability, and governance.

The OAG audits the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and is a member of the United Nations Panel of External Auditors.

In addition, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development plays an active role in the Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA)—part of INTOSAI—by helping to produce guidelines and reports and by helping to develop and implement training for environmental auditors. The WGEA aims to improve the use of audit mandates and audit tools in the field of environment.

Financial audits represent about half of the OAG’s work. They include the financial statement audit of the Government of Canada as a whole, which is the biggest financial audit in Canada. It represents 21% of the OAG’s financial audit workload.

The OAG conducts about 150 financial audits and related work across various jurisdictions every year, including:

• the federal government’s summary financial statements, the results of which are published annually in the Public Accounts of Canada
• the summary financial statements of the governments of Nunavut, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories
• the financial statements of most Crown corporations and many federal organizations

Financial audits cover organizations of the federal and territorial governments as well as some international organizations. In addition, our work addresses specific needs of provincial and First Nations governments, as in the audit of the Canada Revenue Agency’s collection of income tax amounts on behalf of provincial governments.

The OAG spends nearly half of its annual planned spending to complete financial audits and related work.

Audit of the Public Accounts of Canada—The Auditor General expresses an opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Government of Canada, which are included in the Public Accounts of Canada. The Public Accounts of Canada are tabled in Parliament.

The Auditor General also expresses an opinion on the Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada. Published by the Department of Finance Canada, this document provides timely access to understandable and relevant information on the government's financial activity and includes a full set of condensed financial statements that are based on the audited results, which appear in the Public Accounts of Canada.

The Auditor General also issues a yearly commentary derived from the previous year’s federal financial audits. These commentaries are not audit reports. Starting in 2018, the commentaries include the Observations of the Auditor General on the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Government of Canada, which used to be included in the Public Accounts of Canada.

Financial audits of Crown corporations—The Auditor General reports the findings to a minister of the Crown, and they are included in the annual report of the organization for tabling in Parliament.

Financial audits of Northern Legislative Assemblies—The Auditor General presents the audits of the summary financial statements of the governments of Nunavut, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories to their respective legislative assemblies.

The Auditor General Act gives the Auditor General considerable discretion about what areas of government to examine. Given the vast number of government activities, choosing topics for performance audits is a complex and challenging exercise. It requires good knowledge of government and its component organizations, as well as a high level of professional judgment. Because choosing topics well is essential to producing reports that are useful to Parliament, the OAG puts considerable effort into this process.

The OAG begins planning its program of audits several years in advance. It conducts a thorough risk analysis to identify those areas that are most significant and relevant to Parliament. Examples of high-risk areas are those that cost taxpayers significant amounts of money or that could threaten the health and safety of Canadians. The OAG must also take into account such practical issues as the availability of its financial and human resources.

The OAG may decide to audit a single government program or activity (such as pesticide regulation), an area of responsibility that involves several departments or agencies (such as the protection of cultural heritage), or an issue that affects many departments (such as security of information technology).

The OAG may also consider a topic area significant if it has the potential for improving government results (such as financial management and control) or if it is of great interest to parliamentarians and Canadians (such as national security).

The OAG receives many requests to conduct audits from individual citizens, groups, members of Parliament, senators, and other parties requesting an audit of a specific area.

The OAG pays particular attention to requests for audits from parliamentary committees. The ultimate decision about what to audit rests with the Auditor General. Final decisions about what to audit are made in light of the OAG’s mandate, the significance of the issue, the existing audit schedule, and available resources.

Reports to Parliament—The Auditor General reports on matters they believe should be brought to the attention of parliamentarians. The Auditor General normally submits reports on several performance audits to Parliament each year in the spring and in the fall.

On behalf of the Auditor General, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development reports to Parliament on the environmental petitions process, sustainable development strategies, and on any matters related to the environment and sustainable development that the Commissioner considers should be brought to their attention. The Commissioner typically reports to Parliament also in the spring and in the fall.

About 30 days before a tabling date, the OAG notifies the speakers of the House of Commons and Senate that it intends to provide them with a report for tabling in Parliament. OAG reports are tabled in Parliament by the speakers of the House of Commons and Senate, not by the Auditor General or the Commissioner.

OAG performance audit reports contain recommendations that can serve as a springboard to lasting and positive change in the way government functions. The OAG publishes responses to each recommendation from the organization being audited.

Reports to northern legislative assemblies—Audits of programs in Nunavut, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories are reported directly to their respective legislative assemblies.

All of the Auditor General’s reports are automatically referred to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts for further review. The committee bases much of its work on the Auditor General’s reports.

The reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development are referred to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

These 2 committees, and other parliamentary committees, hold hearings to discuss issues raised in these reports. Parliamentary committee hearings are important opportunities for Parliament to use the OAG’s reports to improve government management and accountability. It is through the committee hearings process that Parliament holds government to account.

At committee hearings, the Auditor General, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, other OAG officials, and senior public servants from audited organizations are invited to make brief statements. Department officials are asked about the audit findings and how they plan to address our recommendations.

After these hearings, parliamentary committees may present a report in the House of Commons that includes recommendations to the government. The government is expected to table a response to a committee report within 120 days.

The OAG audits most, but not all, Crown corporations. The Financial Administration Act requires the OAG to audit federal Crown corporations at least once every 10 years. The OAG sets the schedule for these audits by considering the 10 year requirement as well as its available resources.

When the special examination is complete, the OAG submits its report directly to the corporation’s board of directors. The board of directors is then required to do the following:

• Within 30 days—Submit the report to the appropriate minister and to the President of the Treasury Board
• Within 60 days—Release the report publicly on the corporation’s website

The Auditor General provides Parliament with a copy of special examination reports in the spring and fall of each year.