CES Conference 2003

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CES Conference 2003

• In the Publics Best Interest
• Evaluation,
• Accountability, and
• Transparency

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Panel Discussion Public Performance Reporting
Principles to Practice

• Jay Chalke, Public Guardian Trustee of British
  Columbia
• Errol Price, Senior Principal, Office of the
  Auditor General of British Columbia
• Michael Weir, Research Associate CCAF

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Discussion Agenda

• Objectives,
• Introduce Reporting Principles
• Share lessons learned from using Reporting
  Principles in
• Development, finalization of statutory report
• Provision of audit assurance on same
• Structure
• Presentation
• Discussion
• Principles
• Application
• Moving forward

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CCAFs Reporting Principles

• A key element of Multi-Faceted Program to
• Improve returns
• Address human dimensions of reporting
• Reflects the input and perspectives of three key
  communities
• Auditors
• Managers
• Legislators

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Reporting Principles

• CCAF recommendations an integrated set of
  Principles
• Support for disciplined reporting judgments
• Influence on next generation of performance
  reporting
• a common reference point for
• reporting guidance
• audit criteria and
• (ultimately) standards.

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Putting Principles into Practice

• Realization requires
• Integrated, holistic approach
• Shared Leadership
• By Auditors, Executives, Legislators, Opinion
  leaders, Standard setters
• In respect of Relationships Incentives
  Capacity to use Agreeing reasonable
  expectations Continuous learning

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A Real Life Case Study

• Public Guardian Trustee
• Office of the Auditor General

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PGT Overview

• Clients
• Children
• Incapable adults
• Deceased Estates
• Dimensions
• 210 employees
• gt18 operating budget
• gt 600 million in trust assets
• gt 23,000 clients

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PGT Role

• Forty different specific services of two general
  types
• Fiduciary property management roles
• Managing childrens trusts
• Managing financial affairs of incapable adults
• Securing assets and distributing to heirs of
  deceased persons
• Protective and substitute decision making roles
• Monitor and investigate private fiduciaries where
  beneficiaries under legal disability
• Health care decisions

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Context for PGTs New Statutory Transparency
Regime

• Historically PGT had a low profile, was
  under-resourced and largely ignored by government
  and public
• Resulted in inadequate staffing, major backlogs
  and poor reputation
• Office was poorly understood and considered
  secretive
• Clients largely powerless and without ability to
  take business elsewhere

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The New Transparency Regime
Part 3 of the 1993 Public Guardian and Trustee
Act enacted to change profile and provide public
assurance that societys most vulnerable are
properly cared for

• Act proclaimed in 2000
• Contains prospective and retrospective aspects of
  transparency and accountability.
• Rolling 3 year Service Delivery Plans which
  include goals, objective and performance targets
• Annual self-assessment of performance
• A unique requirement in BC law - the Auditor
  General must comment on the PGTs performance
  report
• This third party assurance is included in the
  public Annual Report

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Office of the Auditor General

• Primary goal that the Legislative Assembly and
  the public receive the best information possible
  for assessing the performance of government and
  its organizations

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Context for OAG Involvement

• Support managing for and accountability for
  results
• Actively promoted in recent years
• Supported CCAF-FCVI work
• Welcome legislated requirement

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OAG Role re PGT

• Report on PGT report
• Unique legislation in BC
• Allows assurance without full audit opinion
• Big challenge credibility vs. support

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Implementing Part 3 of the Public Guardian and
Trustee Act

• Challenges
• Little capacity for research, strategic planning
  and related activities
• 0 to 60 in one year (no corporate history,
  limited MIS, little internal awareness)
• No external comparators
• Development of 3 Year Plan
• External consultation
• All staff input
• Senior management finalization
• In Year Managing for Results
• Strict tracking and reporting structure developed
• Quarterly Executive Committee review
• Final quarter focus on marginal targets
• Retrospective Reporting
• Used CCAF principles for reporting
• Looked for best of other performance reports
• Worked cooperatively with Auditor General on
  report design

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Criteria for Choosing Audit Approach

1. Enhance value of information
2. Defensible standards and methodology
3. Establish assurance as value-added
4. Reasonable stresses on OAG capacity

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Learning Model What It Is

• Foundation in CCAF reporting principles
• Focus on stage of development
• Objective assessment of where PGT is, not where
  it should be
• 5025 assurance engagement

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Matrix for Assessing Report

• Elaboration on each principle
• Four stages of development
• Start-up
• In Process
• Fundamentals In Place
• Fully Incorporated

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Conduct of Engagement

• 3 Phases
• 3 member team
• Primarily a desk review
• Foreshadowing

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Reporting
Reporting Principles
7 Key Reportingjudgments
2 Few Critical Aspects
6 ComparativeInformation
5 Capacity, Risk Other Factors
4 Linking Resources Results
3 Linking Goals Achievements
1 Reliable, Fair Timely
STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
Fully incorporated
Fundamentals in place
In process
Start-up phase
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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Lessons from PGTs Year One of Performance
Reporting

• Impact of Performance Targets
• Corporate performance culture well underway
• Sharpened sense of mission
• Have a baseline and can start to learn from our
  own performance
• Ongoing Challenges
• Lack of comparators historic, private sector,
  other jurisdictions
• Incremental project nature of change in public
  sector versus value of consistency in year over
  year reporting
• Attribution of service to outcomes given small
  size and multi-factor environment

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Lessons from PGTs Year One of Performance
Reporting (Contd)

• Benefits
• Assisted with Core Services Review
• Provides evidence to counteract anecdotal and
  out-dated reputation
• Allows government to more clearly see what
  services are being delivered and at what standard
• Clarifies accountability for, and implications,
  of resource related decisions
• Auditor General involvement adds rigour

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Discussion Agenda

• The Principles Themselves
• Application -- the human dimensions of reporting
• Next steps

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Reporting Principles

• For More Information And Copies of Reports,
  Contact
• CCAF http//www.ccaf-fcvi.com
• Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia
  http//www.trustee.bc.ca/
• Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia
  http//www.bcauditor.com