Management Response and Action Plan - Audit of Key Financial Controls at the Public Health Agency of Canada, 2015-16

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Organization: Public Health Agency of Canada

Published: 2017-XX-XX

Management Response and Action Plan
Recommendations Management Response and Planned Management Action Deliverables Expected Completion Date Responsibility

Recommendation 1

It is recommended that the Chief Financial Officer ensure that the Payables at year-end (PAYE) amounts recorded agree with supporting documentation.

Management agrees with this recommendation.

The accounting hubs will review and revise their internal procedure to ensure that the PAYE amounts recorded in SAP agree with supporting documentation.

1.1 Accounting hub internal procedure document with respect to the recording of PAYE amounts in SAP.

March 31, 2017

Director General (DG), Shared Services Partnership, Financial Operations Directorate (SSP-FOD)

Recommendation 2

It is recommended that the Chief Financial Officer enhance the enforcement and monitoring of segregation of duties.

Management agrees with this recommendation.

The Financial Systems Team is working with the Internal Control Division to perform a review of the current procedure and system controls. A revised procedure document will be developed to strengthen the controls on the segregation of duties.

2.1 Revised system procedure on controls with regard to the segregation of duties. The revised procedure will be appropriately communicated and shared with the audit team. The revised procedure will be approved by senior management in the SSP-FOD.

December 31, 2016

DG, SSP-FOD

Recommendation 3

It is recommended that the Chief Financial Officer ensure that journal voucher entries are managed in compliance with the Standard on Journal Vouchers.

Management agrees with this recommendation.

The journal vouchers that did not meet the requirements of the Standard on Journal Vouchers were related to automated system entries generated by SAP. The Financial Policy Team will review and update the Standard on Journal Vouchers to clarify that it does not apply to these transactions. The East and West Accounting Hubs have provided training to the staff who process journal vouchers, to ensure compliance with the current standard for manual journal vouchers.

3.1 Revised Standard on Journal Vouchers to clarify the controls related to automated system entries.

March 31, 2017

DG, SSP-FOD

Recommendation 4

It is recommended that the Chief Financial Officer implement a quality assurance process to validate the accuracy of the data input by timekeepers.

Management agrees with this recommendation.

SSP-FOD is currently developing a sampling methodology to validate the accuracy of the data input by timekeepers. The development of the methodology is in consultation with the Financial Systems Team, the Internal Control Division, the Human Resources Services Directorate and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) resources within the Phoenix project. Note that the Phoenix system is currently not stable and time and labour reports that identify transactions entered by timekeepers only recently became available to departments; to date, PHAC has encountered significant difficulty running these reports successfully.

4.1 Sampling methodology for transactions to validate the accuracy of the data input by timekeepers.

December 31, 2016

DG, SSP-FOD

4.2 Quarterly samples validating the accuracy of the data input by timekeepers for Q1, Q2, and Q3 for 2016‑17.

March 31, 2017

DG, SSP-FOD

Recommendation 5

It is recommended that the Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services Branch, develop and implement guidelines for record keeping (conservation of documents) used to demonstrate adherence to Financial Administration Act Section 34.

Management agrees with this recommendation.

SSP-HRSD’s National Centralized HR Services Division will develop and implement guidelines for record keeping and will communicate them to all departmental compensation trusted sources.

5.1 Guidelines establishing a two-year retention period for compensation related documents to be developed.

October 31, 2016

Compensation Escalation and Trusted Sources team, in collaboration with the Information and Knowledge Management Division (IKMD)

5.2 Information management procedures for National Compensation Trusted Source inboxes for record keeping purposes.

October 31, 2016

Compensation Escalation and Trusted Sources team, in collaboration with IKMD

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