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Quarterly Financial Report - For the quarter ended December 31, 2019

Table of contents

  1. 1 Introduction
    1. 1.1 Authority, mandate and programs
    2. 1.2 Basis of presentation
    3. 1.3 Shared Services Canada financial structure
  2. 2 Highlights of fiscal quarter and fiscal year-to-date results
    1. 2.1 Significant changes to authorities
    2. 2.2 Explanations of significant variances from previous year expenditures
  3. 3 Risks and uncertainty
  4. 4 Significant changes in relation to operations, personnel and programs
  5. 5 Statement of authorities (unaudited)
  6. 6 Departmental budgetary expenditures by standard object (unaudited)
  7. 7 Glossary

Quarterly Financial Report - For the quarter ended December 31, 2019 [PDF - 442 KB]

1 Introduction

This quarterly financial report should be read in conjunction with the 2019-20 Main Estimates and the 2019-20 Supplementary Estimates (A). This 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 has not been subject to an external audit or review.

1.1 Authority, mandate and programs

Shared Services Canada (SSC) reports to Parliament through the Minister of Digital Government. The Department provides services related to email, data centres, networks and end-user information technology (IT) to organizations specified by the Governor in Council. SSC also provides government-wide secure IT infrastructure services. The Minister responsible for SSC has the authority to procure whatever is required to provide shared IT infrastructure services to departments. Maintaining strong customer relationships and service management is essential to the successful delivery of SSC’s mandate.

SSC works to manage and improve the efficiency, reliability and security of the government’s IT infrastructure. A more efficient use of technology will increase productivity across departments and support the vision of a twenty-first-century Public Service, as articulated in Blueprint 2020.

In carrying out its mandate, SSC is supporting the Digital Operations Strategic Plan: 2018 to 2022 and the Government of Canada Cloud Adoption Strategy, as well as working in partnership with public-sector and private-sector stakeholders, implementing enterprise-wide approaches for managing IT infrastructure services, and employing effective and efficient business management processes.

The Shared Services Canada Act and related Orders-in-Council set out the powers, duties and functions of the Minister responsible for SSC. Amendments to the Act in June 2017 allow the Minister to delegate to other Ministers the power to procure certain items, thereby making it easier for federal departments to buy some of the most frequently purchased IT goods and services. SSC remains responsible for setting up IT contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements, and will continue to ensure only trusted IT equipment and software are used. The Minister responsible for SSC may also, in exceptional circumstances, authorize another Minister to obtain services from within their own department or from a source other than SSC. However, this authorization cannot be used to exempt the entire department from using SSC’s services.

Further details on SSC’s authority, mandate, responsibilities and programs may be found in the 2019-20 Main Estimates and in SSC’s 2019-20 Departmental Plan.

1.2 Basis of presentation

This quarterly financial report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes the Department's spending authorities granted by Parliament, and those used by the Department consistent with the 2019-20 Main Estimates and the 2019-20 Supplementary Estimates (A). 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 the 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.

The Department 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. The main difference between the Quarterly Financial Report and the Departmental Financial Statements is the timing of when revenues and expenses are recognized. The Quarterly Financial Report presents revenues only when the money is received and expenses only when the money is paid out. The Departmental Financial Statements report revenues when they are earned and expenses when they are incurred. In the latter case, revenues are recorded even if cash has not been received and expenses are incurred even if cash has not yet been paid out.

1.3 Shared Services Canada financial structure

SSC has a financial structure composed mainly of voted budgetary authorities, namely Vote 1 - Operating Expenditures, including Vote Netted Revenues, Vote 5 - Capital Expenditures, including Vote Netted Revenues, and Vote 10 – Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible. The statutory authorities comprise the contributions to the Employee Benefit Plans (EBP). The contributions to EBP consist of the contributions for SSC’s employees including the members of Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

At the end of the third quarter of 2019-20, 93% of the Department’s budget was devoted to support its IT consolidation and standardization goals while ensuring that current and future IT infrastructure services offered to the Government of Canada are maintained in an environment of operational excellence. The remaining 7% was devoted to Internal Services which support services provided by SSC.

Total Vote Netted Revenue authority for 2019-20 is $665.0 million, which consists of respendable revenue for IT infrastructure services provided by SSC to partner organizations and other organizations on a cost-recovery basis.

2 Highlights of fiscal quarter and fiscal year-to-date results

The following graph provides a comparison of the net budgetary authorities available for spending and the expenditures for the quarters ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, for the Department’s combined Vote 1 - Operating Expenditures, Vote 5 - Capital Expenditures, Vote 10 - Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible, and Statutory Authorities.

Comparison of net budgetary authorities and expenditures as of December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 ($ millions)
Comparison of net budgetary authorities and expenditures as of December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 ($ millions)
Long description – Comparison of Net Budgetary Authorities and Expenditures

The graph shows total net budgetary authorities available for spending of $2,254.5 million as of December 31, 2019 and $2,004.3 million as of December 31, 2018. It also shows year-to-date expenditures totalling $1,264.6 million as of December 31, 2019 compared to $1,158.2 million as of December 31, 2018. Finally, it shows total expenditures of $447.0 million for the third quarter ended December 31, 2019, compared to $337.8 million for the third quarter ended December 31, 2018.

2.1 Significant changes to authorities

For the period ended December 31, 2019, the authorities available to the Department include the Main Estimates, the Supplementary Estimates (A) and the Budget Carry Forward from 2018-19. Authorities available for spending in 2019-20 were $2,254.5 million at the end of the third quarter, compared to $2,004.3 million at the end of the third quarter of 2018-19, representing an increase of $250.2 million, or 12.5%. This total increase is a combination of an increase of $138.4 million in Vote 1 – Gross Operating Expenditures, an increase of $112.6 million in Vote 5 – Gross Capital Expenditures, an increase of $1.6 million in Vote 10 – Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible, an increase in Budgetary Statutory Authorities of $2.8 million and an increase of $5.2 million in Vote Netted Revenues (an increase in Vote Netted Revenues decreases the total net authorities available).

Comparison of net budgetary authorities for the quarters ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018
Net Authorities Available ($ millions) 2019-20 2018-19 Variance
Vote 1 - Operating Expenditures 2,332.2 2,193.8 138.4
Vote 5 - Capital Expenditures 491.0 378.4 112.6
Vote 10 - Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible 1.6 - 1.6
Vote Netted Revenues (665.0) (659.8) (5.2)
Statutory (EBP) 94.7 91.9 2.8
Total Net Authorities 2,254.5 2,004.3 250.2

Vote 1 – Gross Operating Expenditures

The Department’s Vote 1 increased by $138.4 million, compared to the third quarter of 2018-19, mainly due to:

Vote 5 – Gross Capital Expenditures

The Department’s Vote 5 increased by $112.6 million, compared to the third quarter of 2018-19, mainly due to:

Vote 10 – Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible

The Department’s Vote 10 increased by $1.6 million, compared to the third quarter of 2018-19, due to a new Vote SSC obtained in 2019-20 for the initiative “Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible”, announced in Budget 2019. 

Statutory (EBP)

The Department’s Employee Benefits Plan (EBP) authority increased by $2.8 million, compared to the third quarter of 2018-19, mainly due to funding received for Improving Service Integrity at SSC and a decrease attributed to Workload Migration Program and Cloud Architecture and Service Integrity Mission-Critical projects.

2.2 Explanations of significant variances from previous year expenditures

Compared to the previous year, the total year-to-date expenditures, for the period ended December 31, 2019, have increased by $106.4 million, from $1,158.2 million to $1,264.6 million as per the table below. This represents an increase of 9.2% against expenditures recorded for the same period in 2018-19.

Comparison of year-to-date expenditures for the quarters ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018
Net Year-to-Date Expenditures ($ millions) 2019-20 2018-19 Variance
Vote 1 - Operating Expenditures 1,349.3 1,291.0 58.3
Vote 5 - Capital Expenditures 178.9 97.8 81.1
Vote 10 - Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible - - -
Vote Netted Revenues (334.2) (290.1) (44.1)
Statutory (EBP) 70.6 59.5 11.1
Total Net Year-to-Date Expenditures 1,264.6 1,158.2 106.4

Vote 1 - Increase of $58.3 million

The net increase in operating expenditures, compared to the third quarter of 2018-19, is mainly attributed to:

Vote 5 - Increase of $81.1 million

The net increase in capital expenditures, compared to the third quarter of 2018-19, is mainly attributed to:

Vote Netted Revenues - Increase of $44.1 million

The increase in the collected Vote Netted Revenues, compared to the third quarter of 2018-19, is mainly due to timing difference between fiscal years in billing the services provided by SSC to partner departments.

3 Risks and uncertainty

Ensuring adequate resource capacity to provide IT infrastructure, email, data centres and network services across government represents a key risk for both SSC and the Government of Canada in the years ahead. Maintaining Government of Canada IT infrastructure services while undertaking IT modernization initiatives will require an engaged employee base possessing a specialized skill set, as well as sustainable, and reliable funding. How well this risk is managed will impact whether SSC and its partners can fulfill the collective mandate to serve Canadians. In order to better support this mandate and manage this key risk, SSC continues to improve its enabling functions such as financial management, project management and people management, which are essential to the successful implementation of spending plans and achievement of strategic objectives.

SSC is promoting effective financial management practices and financial sustainability to ensure that it has the financial resources, systems and funding mechanisms in place to maintain mission-critical systems and fund the modernization initiatives. The Department is also taking steps, such as developing recruitment and retention strategies that focus on learning, re-training, re-skilling, alternate and flexible work arrangements, and proactive classification and staffing resourcing strategies, to ensure a workforce with the right skills and capacity to sustain current, transitional and future business needs. 

Additional risks that may impact the Department’s spending plans, as well as strategies to mitigate those risks, are described in SSC’s 2019-20 Departmental Plan.

4 Significant changes in relation to operations, personnel and programs

On November 20, 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed the Honourable Joyce Murray as Minister of Digital Government and Minister responsible for SSC.

Approval by Senior Officials

Original signed by

Paul Glover
President

Original signed by

Denis Bombardier, CPA, CGA
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister,
Chief Financial Officer

Ottawa, Canada
February 25, 2020

5 Statement of authorities (unaudited)

Fiscal year 2019-20 (in thousands of dollars) Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2020 Footnote * Used during the quarter ended December 31, 2019 Year-to-date used at quarter-end
Vote 1 - Operating expenditures
Gross Operating expenditures            2,332,211               466,839            1,349,319
Vote Netted Revenues (595,000) (107,552) (329,070)
Net Operating expenditures         1,737,211             359,287         1,020,249
Vote 5 - Capital expenditures
Gross Capital expenditures               490,979                 69,386               178,955
Vote Netted Revenues (70,000) (5,149) (5,149)
Net Capital expenditures             420,979               64,237             173,806
Vote 10 - Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible                 1,620                        -                          -   
(S) Contributions to employee benefit plans 94,656 23,522 70,565
Total Budgetary authorities         2,254,466             447,046         1,264,620
Fiscal year 2018-19 (in thousands of dollars) Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2019 Footnote * Used during the quarter ended December 31, 2018 Year-to-date used at quarter-end
Vote 1 - Operating expenditures
Gross Operating expenditures            2,193,736               413,829            1,291,054
Vote Netted Revenues (593,671) (139,536) (284,322)
Net Operating expenditures 1,600,065 274,293 1,006,732
Vote 5 - Capital expenditures
Gross Capital expenditures 378,407 47,784 97,819
Vote Netted Revenues (66,112) (4,139) (5,818)
Net Capital expenditures 312,295 43,645 92,001
Vote 10 - Making Federal Government Workplaces More Accessible                        -                          -                          -  
(S) Contributions to employee benefit plans 91,907 19,833 59,501
Total Budgetary authorities         2,004,267             337,771         1,158,234

6 Departmental budgetary expenditures by standard object (unaudited)

Fiscal year 2019-20 (in thousands of dollars) Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2020 Footnote * Expended during the quarter ended December 31, 2019 Year-to-date used at quarter-end
Expenditures:
Personnel (includes EBP) 717,598 171,891 522,048
Transportation and communications 686,579 123,213 293,964
Information 1,288 374 638
Professional and special services 316,962 70,025 181,604
Rentals 428,223 71,431 234,713
Repair and maintenance 174,404 37,102 121,752
Utilities, materials and supplies 10,049 1,899 4,158
Acquisition of land, buildings and works 13,783 1,465 5,430
Acquisition of machinery and equipment 563,221 83,415 228,469
Transfer payments                     -                       -                       -  
Public debt charges 5,031 791 2,465
Other subsidies and payments 2,328 (1,859) 3,598
Total gross budgetary expenditures 2,919,466 559,747 1,598,839
Less revenues netted against expenditures:
Vote netted revenues 665,000 112,701 334,219
Total revenues netted against expenditures 665,000 112,701 334,219
Total net budgetary expenditures 2,254,466 447,046 1,264,620
Fiscal year 2018-19 (in thousands of dollars) Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2019 Footnote * Expended during the quarter ended December 31, 2018 Year-to-date used at
quarter-end
Expenditures:
Personnel (includes EBP) 707,459 173,998 493,582
Transportation and communications 652,629 116,636 327,980
Information 1,303 323 813
Professional and special services 287,739 57,220 152,121
Rentals 387,777 60,532 234,519
Repair and maintenance 139,078 28,151 87,996
Utilities, materials and supplies 9,720 1,836 3,971
Acquisition of land, buildings and works 5,618 6,272 6,272
Acquisition of machinery and equipment 464,404 34,121 132,148
Transfer payments                     -                       -                       -  
Public debt charges 4,181 1,029 3,022
Other subsidies and payments 4,142 1,328 5,950
Total gross budgetary expenditures

2,664,050

481,446

1,448,374
Less revenues netted against expenditures:
Vote netted revenues 659,783 143,675 290,140
Total revenues netted against expenditures

659,783

143,675

290,140
Total net budgetary expenditures 2,004,267 337,771 1,158,234

7 Glossary

Appropriations / Authorities

Expenditure authorities are approvals from Parliament for individual government organizations to spend up to specific amounts. Expenditure authority is provided in two ways: annual appropriation acts that specify the amounts and broad purposes for which funds can be spent; and other specific statutes that authorize payments and set out the amounts and time periods for those payments. The amounts approved in appropriation acts are referred to as voted amounts, and the expenditure authorities provided through other statutes are called statutory authorities.

  • Vote 1 - Operating Expenditures: A vote that covers most day-to-day expenses, such as salaries, utilities and minor capital expenditures.
  • Vote 5 - Capital Expenditures: Capital expenditures are those made for the acquisition or development of items that are classified as tangible capital assets as defined by Government accounting policies. This vote is generally used for capital expenditures that exceed $10,000.
Capital Budget Carry Forward

Treasury Board centrally managed vote that permits departments to bring forward eligible lapsing funds from one fiscal year to the next in an amount up to 20% of their year-end allotments in the Capital Expenditures Vote as reflected in Public Accounts.

Cash method of accounting

The cash method recognizes revenues when they are received and expenses when they are paid for.

Collective agreement

Collective agreement means an agreement in writing entered into under the Public Service Staff Relations Act between the employer and a bargaining agent and containing provisions covering terms and conditions of employment and related matters.

Departmental Plan

The Departmental Plan (formerly known as the Report on Plans and Priorities) is an expenditure plan for each department and agency (excluding Crown corporations). It describes departmental priorities, expected results and associated resource requirements covering a three-year period, beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report.

Employee Benefit Plan (EBP)

A statutory item that includes employer contributions for the Public Service Superannuation Plan, the Canada and the Quebec Pension Plans, Death Benefits, and the Employment Insurance accounts. Expressed as a percentage of salary, the EBP rate is changed every year as directed by the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Expenditure basis of accounting

An accounting method that combines elements of the two major accounting methods, the cash method and the accrual method. The expenditure basis of accounting method recognizes revenues when cash is received and expenses when liabilities are incurred or cash is paid out.

Frozen allotments

Frozen allotments are used to prohibit the spending of funds previously appropriated by Parliament. There are two types of frozen allotments:

  • Permanent: where the Treasury Board has directed that funds lapse at the end of the fiscal year
  • Temporary: where an appropriation is frozen until such time as conditions have been met
Full accrual method of accounting

An accounting method that measures the performance and position of an organization by recognizing economic events regardless of when cash transactions occur. Therefore, the full accrual method of accounting recognizes revenues when they are earned (for example, when the terms of a contract are fulfilled) and expenses when they are incurred.

Main Estimates

Each year, the government prepares estimates in support of its request to Parliament for authority to spend public funds. This request is formalized through the introduction of appropriation bills in Parliament. In support of the Appropriation Act, the Main Estimates identify the spending authorities (Votes) and amounts to be included in subsequent appropriation bills. Parliament is asked to approve these Votes to enable the government to proceed with its spending plans.

Operating Budget Carry Forward

Treasury Board centrally managed vote that permits departments to bring forward eligible lapsing funds from one fiscal year to the next in an amount up to 5% of their Main Estimates gross Operating Budget allotment.

Standard objects

A system in accounting that classifies and summarizes the expenditures by categories, such as type of goods or services acquired, for monitoring and reporting.

Supplementary Estimates

The President of the Treasury Board tables two Supplementary Estimates usually in late fall and early spring to obtain the authority of Parliament to adjust the government’s expenditure plan set out in the estimates for that fiscal year. Supplementary Estimates serve two purposes. First, they seek authority for revised spending levels that Parliament will be asked to approve in an Appropriation Act. Second, they provide Parliament with information on changes in the estimated expenditures to be made under the authority of statutes previously passed by Parliament. Each Supplementary Estimates document is identified alphabetically (A and B).

Vote Netted Revenues Authority

The authority by which Shared Services Canada has permission to collect and spend revenue earned and collected from the provision of IT services within the government.

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