Report of the Auditor General—December 2023

Summary

The Report of the Auditor General—December 2023  includes highlights of our audit of the 2022-2023 Consolidated Financial Statements of the Province of Alberta, the results of three new performance audits, the Summary of the 2022 Financial Audit Results of School Jurisdictions in Alberta (page 55), and six assessment of implementation reports. 

Performance Audits 

• Procurement Processes Performance Audit (Transportation and Economic Corridors)  
• Alberta Jobs Now Program Performance Audit (Jobs, Economy and Trade)  
• Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expenses of the Premier, Ministers and Their Staff (Treasury Board and Finance)  

Assessments of Implementation 

• Site Rehabilitation Program (Energy and Minerals)  
• Processes to Manage Bail Hearings and Case Management of Adult Criminal Prosecutions (Justice)  
• Systems to Manage the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) Program (Seniors, Community and Social Services)  
• Systems to Manage a Comprehensive Inventory of IT Applications / IT Disaster Recovery Program (Technology and Innovation)  
• Processes to Report on Value Generation (Technology and Innovation—Alberta Enterprise Corporation)  
• Public Agency Board Member Recruitment and Selection (Treasury Board and Finance—Public Service Commission)  

Ministry Audits

Highlights include: 

• one new recommendation to the Department of Advanced Education to improve its financial consolidation process—page 31.  
• one new recommendation to Agriculture Financial Services Corporation to improve its process to ensure policies and procedures set out in AgriInsurance manuals, guidelines, and authorities are adhered to—page 41. 
• two new recommendations to the Department of Environment and Protected Areas to:  
  • implement a process to collect underpayments to the TIER Fund identified through its review of industry submitted information used to calculate emission obligations—page 79.  
  • improve its financial information preparation and reporting processes by enhancing its quality control and review activities—page 81.
• that the Department of Health has implemented recommendations to:
  • enhance processes to check for receipt of services for which physicians billed—page 93.
  • improve grant management processes—page 94. 
• that the Department of Technology and Innovation has implemented a cybersecurity program to secure government’s information and technology assets. We did identify areas of improvement in the department’s cybersecurity program and shared those detailed findings and related recommendations with management. In order not to increase the cybersecurity risks of government, we will report the results of our audit once management has implemented the identified improvements to its cybersecurity program—page 163. 
• that investments were transferred completely from the Alberta Teachers Retirement Fund to the Alberta Investment Management Corporation and were reflected accurately in AIMCo’s investment accounting system—page 201. 
• that our examination of extra compensation paid to management employees as part of the Province’s COVID-19 pandemic response (Public Service Commission)—see page 202. 
• that Invest Alberta Corporation implemented a recommendation to improve processes to analyze and conclude on financial reporting of significant transactions—page 219.