Canada Revenue Agency Annual Report to Parliament 2013-2014

Canada Revenue Agency - Unaudited supplementary financial information

Financial performance information - Parliamentary appropriations

Introduction

This section of the Annual Report to Parliament 2013-2014 provides the details of the CRA's resource management performance for the purpose of reporting to Parliament on the use of appropriations in 2013-2014. This complements the information provided in the spending profile sections under each program and satisfies the reporting requirements set for annual reports to Parliament.

Financial reporting methodologies

The CRA's funding is provided by Parliament through annual appropriations (modified cash accounting basis) and, in this section, the CRA reports its expenditures and performance, together with details on the management of Parliamentary appropriations on the same basis. In addition to its reporting requirements, the CRA also has to prepare its annual financial statements in accordance with the accounting principles applied in preparing the financial statements of the Government of Canada (full accrual accounting basis). Accordingly, the audited Statement of Operations and Agency Net Financial Position – Agency Activities on page 101 includes certain items such as services received without charge from other government departments and federal agencies. A reconciliation can be found in note 3 on page 108.

The CRA has prepared and included future-oriented financial statements in the 2013-2014 Report on Plans and Priorities. As directed by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, this future-oriented financial information was prepared on an accrual basis to strengthen accountability and improve transparency and financial management. As part of the analysis of net cost of operations, the annual report compares actual results to the initial future-oriented financial statements contained in the 2013-2014 Report on Plans and Priorities.

CRA financial information

The Financial Statements - Agency Activities reports $3,785.1 million as total Parliamentary appropriations used (Note 3b on page 109 shows the reconciliation to the net cost of operations in the annual report). The difference from the $4,062.9 million reported in this section is explained by two items reported in the Financial Statements - Administered Activities: the statutory disbursements to provinces under the Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006, $42.3 million; and the children's special allowance payments, $235.4 million.

Overview

For 2013-2014, Parliament approved $4,276.8 million through the Main Estimates, as shown in the CRA's 2013-2014 Report on Plans and Priorities.

The 2013-2014 Main Estimates were adjusted to include:

• $299.8 million for the carryforward from 2012-2013;
• $84.0 million for severance payments, parental benefits, and vacation credits;
• $5.9 million for funding various collective agreements;
• $16.3 million for adjustments to employee benefit plans costs; and
• $1.4 million for court awards and Crown assets disposal.

These increases were offset by the following reductions:

• $240.7 million for decreased disbursements to provinces under the Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006;
• $29.8 million for a decrease in respendable revenues, mainly for providing services to the Canada Border Services Agency and to the province of Ontario;
• $6.6 million for the transfer to Shared Services Canada to adjust the initial transfer amount; and
• $2.6 million for a decrease in children's special allowance payments.

This resulted in total approved authorities of $4,404.6 million for 2013-2014, representing an in-year increase of 3.0% over the Main Estimates.

Of the $4,404.6 million total authority, CRA's actual spending totalled $4,062.9 million, resulting in $341.7 million remaining unexpended at year-end. After deducting unused resources related primarily to Government advertising campaigns, accommodation and real property services, and employee benefit plans associated with converting operating costs to personnel costs, the remaining $339.2 million is available for use by the CRA in 2014-2015 under its statutory two-year spending authority. This amount represents 7.7% of the total authority.

The CRA's two-year spending authority enables the CRA to be more strategic in using public funds by taking a multi-year view of plans and budgets. The financial flexibility in 2013-2014 was somewhat higher than usual due to restraint measures the CRA introduced in response to the operating budget freeze implemented by the Government in Budget 2010 and the Budget 2012 Spending Review. This increased carryforward was part of the CRA's strategy to address unfunded operating pressures in 2014-2015, including amounts set aside in anticipation of wage settlements for the period under the operating budget freeze.

Revenues administered by the Canada Revenue Agency

Total revenues administered by the CRA amount to some $359.9 billion in 2013-2014, an increase of 3.8% from the $346.8 billion administered in 2012-2013.

List of supplementary information tables

All electronic supplementary information tables listed below can be found at:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/prfrmnc_rprts/menu-eng.html.

• CRA sustainable development strategy
• details on transfer payment programs
• internal audits and evaluations
• response to parliamentary committees and external audits
• sources of respendable and non-respendable non-tax revenue
• details on project spending
• user fees reporting