Honorary Chair and Key Note speaker:
Building Momentum on Renewal: Pursuing results now... for the future

Margaret Bloodworth
(Security Advisor to the Prime Minister and
Associate Secretary to the Cabinet)

Presentation

The essentials of the Federal Accountability Act

Did you know that the new accounting officer provisions of the Financial Administration Act (FAA) designate deputy ministers and deputy heads of designated government entities as the accounting officers for their organizations? Accounting officers have a legal obligation to appear before committees of the Senate and House of Commons and answer questions on the management responsibilities set out in section 16.4 of the FAA.  This is one of the results that occurred with the implementation of the Federal Accountability Act (FedAA) last December.  What are the additional implications for the financial community?  This is what Mr. Nicholas Wise from Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) will discuss in this session.

Speaker:
Nicholas Wise,
Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS)

Is Lobbying a bad word?

What are the different types of lobbyists and what are the registration requirements? Does the definition of lobbying include simple requests for information? What does “grassroots” lobbying mean? What are the rules respecting contingency fees? How will we know if a former public office holder has begun working as a lobbyist?  More importantly what are the implications for financial officers exposed to this?  These are the type of questions that you might ask you and have a hard time finding answers.  This session with Mr. Michael Nelson, the Registrar of Lobbyists, will help you to find these answers and clarify your role and implication in the current context of accountability.

Speaker:
Michael Nelson

The role of the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner in the light of the Federal Accountability Act.

On December 12, 2006, the Federal Accountability Act received Royal Assent. Part of the Act provides for the creation of the position and the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, and the enactment of the Conflict of Interest Act, which, for the first time, enshrined in legislation the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders. The primary objective of the Conflict of Interest Act is to enhance confidence and trust in our government and parliamentary institutions, and to assure Canadians that members of the government are held to standards that place the public interest above their private interests.  Since financial officers are in many ways exposed to the risk associated with conflict of interest (actual or apparent) our speaker, Mr. Simon Coakeley, Deputy Commissioner from the Office of Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, will provide the financial community with relevant information in order to conduct their duties with the assurance of providing services in respect of these rules.

Speaker:
Simon Coakeley,
Deputy Commissioner from the Office of Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner

Capacity Building and Community Development

Capacity Building in the Financial Community - Ann Marie Sahagian, the Assistant Comptroller General, Transformation Management, Capacity Building and Community Development Sector, will provide an update on the key initiatives underway to build capacity within the federal government’s financial management community.  She will address issues such as implementation of the CFO model, recruitment and development programs, development of core curriculum, and collective staffing initiatives.

Speaker:
Ann Marie Sahagian
Assistant Comptroller General
Transformation Management
Capacity Building and Community Development
Office of the Comptroller General
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Financial Statements Best Practice

Come and see why the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has been recognized as a leader in their field in the development of accrual based audited financial statements. They have not only achieved a perfect scorecard from TBS but have also received the CFIA Management of Excellence - President's National Award for their success in this area. You won’t want to miss this session if you’re interested in learning how to get ready for this new Government initiative.

Speakers:
Stanley Xu
Senior Manager, Corporate Accounting
Canadian Food Inspection Agency

François Carrière
Manager, Corporate Accounting
Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Integrated Business Planning – Will We Ever Get There?

This presentation looks at the concept of integrated planning; how it could or should work; and possible reasons why so few departments and agencies have achieved full integration.  In 2005, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) identified Integrated Planning as one of five management priorities in its five-year Strategic Plan.  Progress, successes and challenges will be discussed in light of the DFO experience.

Speaker:
Valerie Zinger
Director
Integrated Planning and Reporting Branch
Finance and Administration
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Forbidden Friendship…and allowed

Political adversaries bound by a sincere friendship, Liza Frulla and Louise Beaudoin are two women of passion recognized for their achievements and their audacity. For the presentation of this conference, they have chosen a nontraditional  format of exchange and discussion.

Speakers:
Louise Beaudoin and Liza Frulla

What you should know about Human Resource Modernisation?

Human Resource Modernisation - End to End Solution
To learn about this new government initiative and to improve your competency in managing human resource.

Speaker:
Gilles Carpentier
Director General, Shared Services – Human Resource
Canada Public Service Agency

Staffing Modernisation
To learn about this new government initiative and to improve your competency in managing human resource.

Speaker:
Marvin Bedward
Director, Strategic Division
Strategic Direction
Public Service Commission

What you should know about Human Resource Modernisation?

Compensation and Pension Modernisation
This conference will be very interesting since it is essential for financial officers to know the remuneration and pension systems when analysing financial information pertaining to salaries and benefits.

Speaker:
To be determined

PSAB Accounting Standards Development and Update

In recent years, Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for the public sector have received an increased recognition and they are now widely accepted and used by all levels of governments in Canada.  GAAP for the public sector serve as the basis for the preparation of the audited financial statements of the Government of Canada, as well as for the Treasury Board Accounting Standards that are used by federal departments and agencies for the preparation of their financial statements.

Canadian GAAP for the public sector are set by the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA).  Establishing standards for the public sector is an evolutionary process building on research, widespread experimentation, practical experience and consensus. Keeping abreast of the most recent standards and anticipate the upcoming changes that may affect our financial statements requires an ongoing commitment and is challenging to say the least.

To help us meet this challenge, Mr. Terry Corrigan will provide us with a summary of the most recent changes that were made to the Public Sector Accounting Handbook of the CICA.  He will also give us an overview of the projects that the PSAB currently has under development.  These changes could potentially have an impact on the preparation of future year financial statements at both the federal government and the departmental level.

PSAB is an independent body that serves the public interest by setting objective conceptually-based standards of high quality and other guidance for the reporting of performance by the public sector.  This work is done through a consultative process and communication with various stakeholders and the public. PSAB also contributes to the development of internationally accepted standards.

Speaker:
Terry J. Corrigan, BA, CA, MPA, Principal, Public Sector Accounting Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants

Presentation

The Role of Internal Control Certification at Canada Post Corporation

In light of recent corporate governance failures in Canada and United States, Canada Post Corporation (CPC) has voluntarily decided to certify its internal controls over financial reporting. Mr. Clary Ottman, Vice President, Finance & Comptroller at CPC will discuss the several important positive by-products resulting from the certification process such as improving the effectiveness and efficiency of decision-making and effective records and information management. Mr. Ottman will also explain to us the process that CPC followed to successfully implement this certification.

Come and learn how internal control certification is helping to provide assurance that the controls are designed and are operating effectively to support a sound financial reporting process and how this process has helped CPC in identifying and reducing bureaucracy to create a new, controls-based decision-making model for the company.

Speaker:
Clary F. Ottman, CA, BSc., Vice President, Finance & Comptroller, Canada Post Corporation

Departmental Audited Financial Statements and Related Financial Reporting Issues

With the aim of improving financial management and accountability, there is currently an increased interest in many aspects of financial reporting by federal departments and agencies.  Some of the areas that are attracting interest include the preparation of departmental financial statements, proactive disclosure and the proposals under Bill S-201 (formerly Bill S-217) for quarterly financial statements for departments and Crown corporations.   

In this session Mr. Bill Matthews, A/Executive Director in the Office of the Comptroller General of Canada will provide us with an update on accounting guidance related to federal departmental financial statements and progress towards having these financial statements audited. He will also discuss the status of various significant issues relating to accounting standards for departmental financial statements that are being addressed with the support of independent experts. And finally, he will discuss the proposals of Bill S-201 (formerly Bill S-217) that was presented in the Senate in 2007 with a proposal to amend the Financial Administration Act to require that quarterly financial statements done on a GAAP basis be prepared by all federal departments and Crown corporations and tabled in Parliament within 45 days of the end of the quarter.

Speaker:
Bill Matthews, CA, A/Executive Director, Government Accounting Policy and Reporting, Office of the Comptroller General, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Presentation

A Leading Practice for Improving Planning and Budgeting Processes

Learn how to use an activity-based planning and budgeting (ABPB) approach to logically predict required future activity and resource requirements based on forecasted demand for your products and services. 

Most organization’s planning/budgeting cycles are broken beyond repair. Not only are they for the most part dysfunctional, but they are slow and characterized by politics and gamesmanship. The approach presented here has proven to be the better way, by clearly linking the operational and financial aspects of a plan in a manner that fully reflects the operating realities of the organizational unit, in a manner that encourages cross-unit interaction. 

Presented by the co-author of CAM-I’s acclaimed book on this subject, this session will expand on a number of public and private sector examples discussed in the book. 

Speakers:
Robert Torok, IBM Global Business Services

Presentation
Planning First: Implementing a New Approach to Corporate Budgeting
Case Study - Planning First: Implementing a New Approach to Corporate Budgeting
Case Study Solutions - Planning First: Implementing a New Approach to Corporate Budgeting

Move the dials and improve performance and profitability

Interest in performance management today is driven by executives whose major frustration is the inability to implement a well formulated strategy and the shifting focus from product to developing more valuable customers. Performance management focuses on execution. Its purpose is not just better reporting and monitoring performance metrics on a dashboard but on moving the dials and improving performance.

SAS, the leader in business intelligence and analytic software, invites you to hear Luc Ladouceur discuss:

• Communicating strategic objectives, target-setting and aligning teams via strategy maps and balanced scorecards.
• Monitoring performance measures and assessing performance.
• Integrating scorecards and ABM data with strategy formulation, process-based thinking, channel/customer profitability.
• Moving from product to customer-focus, by measuring channel, customer profitability and customer lifetime value.
• Tracing calculated costs and cost transparency back to work processes, consumed resources and determining activity drivers through activity-based cost management.
• Creating competitive advantage and enabling trade-off analysis with analytics.

Speaker:
Luc Ladouceur, SAS Canada

Presentation