Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Quarterly Financial Report for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2020
Statement outlining results, risks and significant changes in operations, personnel and programs
On this page
1. Introduction
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In this section
This quarterly report has been prepared by management as required by section 65.1 of the Financial Administration Act and in the manner prescribed by the Treasury Board. The report should be read in conjunction with the Main Estimates, the Supplementary Estimates (A), and the Supplementary Estimates (B) as well as Budget Plan 2018 and Budget Plan 2019.
The report has been reviewed by the Departmental Audit Committee.
1.1 Basis of presentation
This report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s (TBS’s) spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by TBS, consistent with the Main Estimates, the Supplementary Estimates (A) and the Supplementary Estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. This 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.
TBS 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.
1.2 Raison d’être
TBS is the central agency that acts as the administrative arm of the Treasury Board, a committee of Cabinet. TBS supports the Treasury Board in the following principal roles:
Spending oversight
Review spending proposals and authorities; review existing and proposed government programs for efficiency, effectiveness and relevance; provide information to Parliament and Canadians on government spending.
Administrative leadership
Lead government‑wide initiatives; develop policies and set the strategic direction for government administration related to service delivery, access to government information, and the management of assets, finances, information and technology.
Regulatory oversight
Develop and oversee policies to promote good regulatory practices; review proposed regulations to ensure they adhere to the requirements of government policy; and advance regulatory cooperation across jurisdictions.
Employer
Develop policies and set the strategic direction for people management in the public service; manage total compensation (including pensions and benefits) and labour relations; undertake initiatives to improve performance in support of recruitment and retention.
1.3 TBS’s financial structure
TBS manages both departmental and Treasury Board central votes. Its departmental operating expenditures and revenues are managed under Vote 1, Program expenditures.
This quarterly report highlights the financial results of:
- Vote 1, Program expenditures, related to the delivery of TBS’s mandate
- Vote 20, Public Service Insurance, related to the employer’s share of group benefit coverage to employees of the core public service under the various plans listed below
- Statutory authorities that cover any residual amounts between the government’s contributions to the various plans and the distribution of these costs to departments
TBS manages 7 different central votes:
- Vote 5, Government Contingencies, supplements other appropriations to provide federal departments and agencies with temporary advances for urgent or unforeseen departmental expenditures between Parliamentary supply periods.
- Vote 10, Government‑Wide Initiatives, supplements other appropriations to support the implementation of strategic management initiatives across the federal public service.
- Vote 15, Compensation Adjustments, supplements other appropriations to provide funding for adjustments made to terms and conditions of service or employment of the federal public administration as a result of collective bargaining.
- Vote 20, Public Service Insurance, provides the employer’s share of group benefit plan coverage costs as part of the Treasury Board’s role as the employer of the core public administration. These plans include the Public Service Health Care Plan, Public Service Dental Care Plan, Pensioners’ Dental Services Plan, Disability Insurance Plan, provincial payroll taxes (British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Quebec), and the Public Service Management Insurance Plan.
- Vote 25, Operating Budget Carry Forward, supplements other appropriations for the carry forward of unused operating funds from the previous fiscal year, up to 5% of the gross operating budget in an organization’s Main Estimates.
- Vote 30, Paylist Requirements, supplements other appropriations to meet legal requirements for the government as employer for items such as parental benefits and severance payments.
- Vote 35, Capital Budget Carry Forward, supplements other appropriations for the carry forward of unused capital funds from the previous fiscal year, up to 20% of an organization’s capital vote.
The funding in these votes is approved by Parliament. With the exception of Vote 20, funding in central votes is transferred from TBS to individual departments and agencies once specified criteria are met. Like any other department, TBS also receives its own share of appropriations transferred from these votes to its own Vote 1. Any unused balance from these central votes is returned to the fiscal framework at the end of the year and is reported as TBS’s lapse.
Expenditures incurred against statutory authorities mainly reflect the government’s obligation to pay the employer’s share of the Public Service Pension Plan, the Canada Pension Plan and the Québec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance premiums and public service death benefits. TBS recovers from other government departments and agencies their share of the employer contributions under the Public Service Superannuation Act, and is subsequently charged by Public Services and Procurement Canada for actual expenditures in the same statutory vote. Adjustments are made at year‑end to individual departments’ statutory votes (including those of TBS) for the difference between periodic recoveries and actual expenditures. At year-end, the net effect on TBS’s financial statements will be zero.
Transfer amounts from all central votes mentioned above will be included in the financial reports of the individual recipient departments.
2. Highlights of fiscal quarter and fiscal year‑to‑date results
This section:
- highlights the financial results for the quarter and fiscal year-to-date ended December 31, 2020
- provides explanations of variances compared with the same period last year that exceed materiality thresholds of:
- $1 million for Vote 1, Program Expenditures, and Statutory authorities
- $10 million for Vote 20, Public Service Insurance
| 2020–21 Budgetary authorities to | 2019–20 Budgetary authorities to | Variance in budgetary authorities | Year-to-date expenditures as at Q3 2020–21 () | Year-to-date expenditures as at Q3 2019–20 () | Variance between 2020–21 year-to-date and 2019–20 year-to-date expenditures | Q3 Expenditures 2020–21 | Q3 Expenditures 2019–20 | Variance between 2020–21 Q3 and 2019–20 Q3 expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote 1: Program expenditures | 296,944 | 323,284 | -26,340 | 213,532 | 220,317 | -6,785 | 72,896 | 79,174 | -6,278 |
| Vote 20: Public Service Insurance | 3,155,279 | 2,667,910 | 487,369 | 2,087,612 | 1,862,098 | 225,514 | 754,763 | 650,459 | 104,304 |
| Statutory authorities | 33,424 | 34,314 | -890 | -184,161 | -196,547 | 12,386 | 7,521 | -43,946 | 51,467 |
| Total | 3,485,647 | 3,025,508 | 460,139 | 2,116,983 | 1,885,868 | 231,115 | 835,180 | 685,687 | 149,493 |
2.1 Statement of voted and statutory authorities
Total budgetary authorities available for use increased by $460.1 million (15.2%) from the previous fiscal year:
- Vote 1 authorities decreased by $26.3 million
- Vote 20 authorities increased by $487.3 million
- Statutory authorities decreased by $0.9 million
The following table provides a detailed explanation of these changes.
| Changes to voted and statutory authorities (2020–21 compared with 2019–20) | $ thousands |
|---|---|
| Vote 1: Program expenditures | |
| Other miscellaneous increases (for example, funding for an Online Regulatory Consultation System (Budget 2018), funding for the Centre for Regulatory Innovation (2018 Fall Economic Statement) and funding to complete a wage study on salaries of employees under the Law Practitioner group) | 1,682 |
| Funding to support the implementation of Proactive Pay Equity in the Federal Public Service (Budget 2019) | 1,245 |
| Funding for the Office of the Minister of Digital Government | 1,170 |
| Funding to support Shared Services Canada in implementing the Workload Migration Project with its partner departments and agencies | 824 |
| Transfer from Shared Services Canada to support the Financial Management Transformation Coordinated Model and advance the development of the Government of Canada Digital Core Template | 770 |
| Sunset of Budget 2018 funding to establish a dedicated Human Resources Pay Solutions Team to put forward a recommended approach for a new pay system | -6,992 |
| Decrease of funding as the TBS Workload Migration and Cloud Enablement Project to migrate from older data centres to more secure modern data centres or cloud solutions is expected to be completed this fiscal year (Budget 2018) | -4,480 |
| Transfer of funding to various organizations for innovative approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in government operations | -4,323 |
| Sunset of funding for the Classification Program Renewal Initiative | -4,057 |
| Other miscellaneous decreases (for example, sunsetting funding or decrease of funding for the Canadian Digital Service, Service Strategy, Employee Wellness Support Program and the Government of Canada Financial and Materiel Management Solution Project) | -3,124 |
| Internal reallocation of resources to better align the administration costs of the Public Service Insurance plans and program (from Vote 1 to Vote 20) | -3,019 |
| Decrease of funding for the stabilization of the Government of Canada’s pay system | -1,677 |
| Net decrease in the Operating Budget Carry Forward | -1,497 |
| Decrease of funding to support the Public Service Centre of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellness (Budget 2018) | -1,072 |
| Sunset of funding to support the Open Government Partnership Global Summit (Budget 2018) | -983 |
| Decrease of funding for the Access to Information Initiative | -808 |
| Subtotal Vote 1 | -26,340 |
| Vote 20: Public Service Insurance | |
| Funding for the Disability Insurance Plan | 395,800 |
| Funding for the Public Service Insurance plans and program | 73,781 |
| Funding increase due to lower transfer of funds to the Department of National Defence for the Service Income Security Insurance Program, compared to the previous year, as a result of the sunsetting of Budget 2018 funding | 12,069 |
| Internal reallocation of resources to better align the administration costs of the Public Service Insurance plans and program (from Vote 1 to Vote 20) | 3,019 |
| Funding increase for amendments to the Public Service Dental Plan as a result of an arbitral decision (Budget 2019) | 2,699 |
| Subtotal Vote 20 | 487,369 |
| Statutory authorities | |
| A net decrease in TBS’s share of contributions to employee benefit plans (EBPs), compared to last year, as a result of sunsetting funding primarily for the stabilization of the Government of Canada’s pay system, the Human Resources Pay Solutions Team and the Classification Program Renewal Initiative. This decrease was offset by an increase in EBP as a result of additional salary funding received in 2020–21. | -890 |
| Subtotal statutory authorities | -890 |
| Total authorities | 460,139 |
2.2 Statement of departmental budgetary expenditures by standard object
The year-to-date budgetary expenditures, as at , have increased by $231.1 million (12.3%) compared to the same period in the previous year:
- Vote 1 expenditures decreased by $6.8 million
- Vote 20 expenditures increased by $225.5 million
- Statutory payments increased by $12.4 million
For the fiscal quarter ended , budgetary expenditures have increased by $149.5 million (21.8%) compared to the same period in the previous year:
- Vote 1 expenditures decreased by $6.3 million
- Vote 20 expenditures increased by $104.3 million
- Statutory payments increased by $51.5 million
The following table provides a detailed explanation of these changes by vote and by standard object.
| Standard object | Changes to voted and statutory expenditures | Variance between 2020–21 year-to-date and 2019–20 year-to-date expenditures (April 1 to December 31) | Variance between 2020–21 Q3 and 2019–20 Q3 expenditures (October 1 to December 31) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vote 1: Program expenditures ($ thousands) | |||
| 1 Personnel | The increase in year-to-date salary expenditures is due to additional staff hired to work on the following projects and initiatives: stabilization of the Government of Canada’s pay system, collective bargaining, pay equity, the Canadian Digital Service, legislative requirements of the access to information review, the Centre for Regulatory Innovation, Government of Canada Project and Portfolio Management (GCPPM), the creation of the new Core Services Enabling Team to support a deputy minister committee, the accessibility project, web renewal, the advancement of the Financial Management Transformation (FMT) Coordinated Model and the development of the Government of Canada (GC) Digital Core Template, the review of the Standard on Security Screening, security screening modernization, increased workload for Cabinet Affairs, and communication and support to the Minister of Digital Government. The decrease in Q3 salary expenditures is due to retroactive salary payments made in 2019–20 for several collective agreements and a timing difference in the processing of cost recoveries from other government departments and agencies. |
8,195 | -1,566 |
| 2 Transportation and Communication | The decrease in expenditures compared to the previous year is mainly related to a reduction of travel costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | -1,624 | -676 |
| 4 Professional Services | The increase in Q3 professional services expenditures compared to the previous year is related to work as it pertains to the following projects and initiatives: the new Core Services Enablement Team, GC Interoperability, COVID-19 Alert application, Sign-In Canada and the advancement of the FMT Coordinated Model and the development of the GC Digital Core Template. The increase is partially offset by a decrease in commissionaire services costs for Security Services compared to the previous year. |
-123 | 1,623 |
| 5 Rentals | The increase in expenditures is mainly due to additional SAP licences for the Government of Canada Financial and Materiel Management (GCfm) Solution Project and the FMT Coordinated Model and to the development of the GC Digital Core Template. | 1,244 | 1,653 |
| 9 Construction and/or Acquisition of Machinery | The decrease in expenditures is primarily due to the timing of payments for cloud services and other IT licences, which was corrected to Standard Object 5 Rentals in Q4 of 2019–20. | -1,611 | -420 |
| 12 Other Subsidies and Payments | The decrease in expenditures is mainly due to the timing of cost recovery from other government organizations for the:
This decrease is offset by lower cost recoveries compared to the previous year for the GCfm project and Sign-In Canada. |
-9,070 | -4,475 |
| 46 Vote-Netted Revenue | The increase in vote-netted revenues is mainly attributable to a timing difference in the collection of revenues this year compared to the previous year. | -3,746 | -2,562 |
| Other | Miscellaneous expenditures | -49 | 145 |
| Subtotal Vote 1 | -6,785 | -6,278 | |
| Vote 20: Public Service Insurance | |||
| 1 Personnel | The increase in expenditures is due to the:
The increase is offset by a decrease in year-to-date expenditures compared to last year mainly due to:
|
233,824 | 101,900 |
| Other | Miscellaneous expenditures | -8,309 | 2,403 |
| Subtotal Vote 20 | 225,514 | 104,304 | |
| Statutory expenditures | |||
| 1 Personnel | Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) charges TBS for the employer’s share of contributions to the Public Service Pension Plan, the Canada Pension Plan, the Québec Pension Plan, the Employment Insurance Plan and the Supplementary Death Benefit Plan. TBS recovers these payments from other government departments and agencies. The increase in Q3 and year-to-date expenditures is mainly due to the timing of recoveries, from other government departments and agencies, of the employer’s share of contributions to employee benefit plans; however, the net effect on TBS’s financial statements will be zero by year-end. | 12,386 | 51,467 |
| Subtotal statutory expenditures | 12,386 | 51,467 | |
| Total expenditures | 231,115 | 149,493 | |
3. Risks and uncertainties
TBS must provide leadership across the federal government to fulfill its digital, administrative and employer roles. As a result, the department is expected to deliver on a number of complex, emerging, and government-wide initiatives within short timeframes and with constrained financial resources, an increasing source of risk.
TBS recognizes that a strong workforce is key to successfully delivering its responsibilities. The department will continue to focus on providing its employees with a healthy, enabling work environment to mitigate the risk of not delivering on time. This includes undertaking actions to help stabilize the pay system to ensure that the employees are being paid accurately and on time, and providing flexible work arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic so that the department can attract, develop and retain a diverse and high‑performing workforce.
The unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have introduced greater uncertainty and inherent financial risk for the forecasting, planning and implementation of activities. More specifically, monitoring is necessary to understand and address the impact of anticipated changes to spending patterns for staffing, contracting and travelling expenses, as well as the cost of adapting program delivery, guidance, and implementation to address evolving pandemic response measures.
The department is continually looking for opportunities to improve financial management practices and mitigate risks, including those related to financial forecasting and planning to ensure that resources are available to deliver on priority initiatives.
TBS will continue to closely monitor its environment and operations in order to reallocate resources to key priorities and to ensure that resources are being managed effectively to deliver results.
4. Significant changes in relation to operations, personnel and programs
This section highlights significant changes in the operations, personnel and programs of TBS during the third quarter of the fiscal year.
Suzy McDonald was appointed Assistant Secretary, Social and Cultural Sector, effective .
Heather Sheehy was appointed Assistant Secretary, Government Operations Sector, effective .
5. Approval by senior officials
Approved by:
Peter Wallace, Secretary
Karen Cahill, Chief Financial Officer
Ottawa, Canada
Date:
6. Appendix
| Fiscal year 2020-2021 | Fiscal year 2019-2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total available for use for the year ending | Used during the quarter ended | Year to date used at quarter-end | Total available for use for the year ending | Used during the quarter ended | Year to date used at quarter-end | |
| Vote 1 - Program Expenditures | 296,944,081 | 72,895,840 | 213,532,243 | 323,284,102 | 79,174,473 | 220,316,822 |
| Vote 20 - Public Service Insurance | 3,155,278,994 | 754,762,503 | 2,087,612,059 | 2,667,910,100 | 650,458,898 | 1,862,097,615 |
| Statutory Authorities | ||||||
A111 - President of the Treasury Board - Salary and motor car allowance |
91,300 | 22,800 | 68,400 | 87,700 | 21,875 | 68,862 |
A140 - Contributions to employee benefit plans |
33,333,063 | 7,308,408 | 21,925,223 | 34,226,700 | 7,506,467 | 22,519,401 |
A145 - Unallocated employer contributions made under the PSSA and other retirement acts and the Employment Act (EI) |
- | 189,429 | -206,154,237 | - | -51,474,077 | -219,135,191 |
A681 - Payments under the Public Service Pension Adjustment Act |
- | 13 | 35 | - | 13 | 39 |
| Total Statutory Authorities | 33,424,363 | 7,520,649 | -184,160,579 | 34,314,400 | -43,945,722 | -196,546,889 |
| Total authorities | 3,485,647,438 | 835,178,992 | 2,116,983,723 | 3,025,508,602 | 685,687,649 | 1,885,867,548 |
Table 4 Note
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| Fiscal year 2020-2021 | Fiscal year 2019-2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2021table 5 note * | Expended during the quarter ended December 31, 2020 | Year to date used at quarter-end | Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2020table 5 note * | Expended during the quarter ended December 31, 2019 | Year to date used at quarter-end | |
| Expenditures: | ||||||
1 Personnel |
4,145,614,941 | 989,164,016 | 2,583,234,229 | 3,671,283,549 | 837,363,490 | 2,328,828,982 |
2 Transportation and communications |
3,413,692 | 13,957 | 178,057 | 2,434,484 | 696,684 | 1,824,717 |
3 Information |
455,065 | 49,495 | 293,388 | 356,455 | 32,177 | 243,728 |
4 Professional and special services |
86,346,240 | 34,731,818 | 79,283,641 | 87,755,813 | 35,769,852 | 85,119,358 |
5 Rentals |
3,204,595 | 2,499,245 | 3,637,590 | 3,480,010 | 846,616 | 2,393,822 |
6 Repair and maintenance |
2,548,174 | 341,679 | 494,135 | 2,766,845 | 131,922 | 460,886 |
7 Utilities, materials and supplies |
1,410,533 | 132,687 | 231,532 | 1,179,623 | 137,253 | 405,170 |
9 Acquisition of machinery and equipment |
6,128,280 | 352,704 | 3,778,117 | 5,075,096 | 772,476 | 5,389,416 |
10 Transfer payments |
981,690 | 22,390 | 523,722 | 1,231,690 | 101,299 | 541,510 |
12 Other subsidies and payments |
-3,688,937 | -5,250,528 | -10,674,827 | 9,642,395 | -1,378,852 | -2,680,858 |
Total gross budgetary expenditures |
4,246,414,272 | 1,022,057,464 | 2,660,979,585 | 3,785,205,960 | 874,472,917 | 2,422,526,731 |
| Less Revenues netted against expenditures: | ||||||
Vote Netted Revenues (VNR) - Centrally managed items |
-746,411,799 | -181,513,396 | -536,326,854 | -746,411,799 | -185,982,582 | -532,736,586 |
Vote Netted Revenues (VNR) - Program expenditures |
-14,355,035 | -5,365,075 | -7,669,008 | -13,285,559 | -2,802,686 | -3,922,597 |
Total Revenues netted against expenditures |
-760,766,834 | -186,878,471 | -543,995,862 | -759,697,358 | -188,785,268 | -536,659,183 |
| Total net budgetary expenditures | 3,485,647,438 | 835,178,992 | 2,116,983,723 | 3,025,508,602 | 685,687,649 | 1,885,867,548 |
| Government-Wide Expenses included abovetable 5 note * | ||||||
1 Personnel |
3,898,946,793 | 921,441,290 | 2,384,365,081 | 3,411,577,899 | 767,877,558 | 2,137,560,431 |
2 Transportation and communications |
- | - | - | - | 6,426 | 22,474 |
3 Information |
- | - | 2,444 | - | - | 10,341 |
4 Professional and special services |
2,244,000 | 13,833,365 | 29,957,662 | 2,244,000 | 16,494,862 | 35,670,512 |
7 Utilities, materials and supplies |
- | - | - | - | - | 21 |
9 Acquisition of machinery and equipment |
- | - | - | - | - | 124 |
10 Transfer payments |
500,000 | 13 | 301,345 | 500,000 | 1,299 | 352,610 |
12 Other subsidies and payments |
- | 1,190,673 | 3,158,178 | - | 587,271 | 2,082,537 |
Total |
3,901,690,793 | 936,465,341 | 2,417,784,711 | 3,414,321,899 | 784,967,416 | 2,175,699,050 |
Table 5 Note
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© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the President of the Treasury Board, 2021,
ISSN: 2561-1852
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