Appendix 1: Supplementary Reporting Information

Serving ministry clients

The Ministry of Finance serves the needs of the government and provides services directly to the public. The ministry's primary clients include Treasury Board, Government Caucus Committees, and ministries.

Ministry staff are highly trained and knowledgeable professionals who provide expert non-partisan strategic advice to Treasury Board, policy deliberations support for Government Caucus Committees and strategic direction to ministries.

The ministry is responsible for producing the annual Budget and Fiscal Plan, Estimates and Public Accounts for the province. These documents are available at http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/pubs.htm.

The Budget and Fiscal Plan contains the economic and fiscal forecasts for the next fiscal year and all material assumptions and policy decisions underlying the economic and fiscal forecasts.

The Estimates provides an overview of the provincial government's financial plan for the next fiscal year and detailed information of the government's proposed Supply Act appropriations. The Estimates is debated and approved by members of the legislature.

The Public Accounts are one of the major accountability documents for the Provincial Government. They demonstrate accountability to the citizens of British Columbia by providing actual audited financial information and allow the reader to see how government performed relative to its fiscal plan for the year, as laid out in the Budget and Estimates of revenue and expenditure.

The ministry provides direct services to the public through its online registries which includes the Corporate Registry, Personal Property Registry, Manufactured Home Registry and OneStop Business Registry. These registries facilitate online registration of businesses, personal property interests, and manufactured homes. Further information on these registries are available at http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/registries/.

The ministry also provides regulatory services through the Financial Institutions Commission that provides oversight over credit unions, insurance companies, real estate and mortgage brokers and pension trusts that are based in British Columbia.

Annual financial reporting information is prepared by the ministry using generally accepted accounting principles. These principles are established by the Public Sector Accounting Board, which is part of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Financial information is also audited by the Auditor General, so public users can have confidence that it fairly represents the financial position of the government and provides consistent unbiased reporting.

Linking Goals and Objectives and explaining variances

The ministry's mission, goals and objectives are clearly set forth in this report. Most of the ministry objectives for fiscal 2004/05 have been met and there were some major successes this year. Where there were variances between the performance target and actual results, we have provided an explanation. Where targets were not met, the ministry will continue to strive to attain these.

Attaining goals like balancing the budget, paying down debt and achieving an improved credit rating for the province help to reduce debt servicing costs. This leaves more funds available for other government priorities such as health care and education.

Helping to Meet the Government's Fiscal Plan

The key government goal that relates to the Ministry of Finance is to achieve "a strong and vibrant provincial economy." This links to creating employment opportunities and having affordable, fiscally responsible government. Each of the ministry's objectives links to these broader government objectives.

The ministry's success in restoring sound fiscal management was recognized by the following three major credit rating agencies: Standard and Poor's, Moody's and Dominion Bond Rating Service.

The ministry recognizes that all performance measures reported in the 2004/05 – 2006/07 Service Plan are important; however, focusing on the most critical performance measures allows the ministry to better define its success in achieving its goals and objectives.

In its efforts to focus on the few, critical aspects of performance, the ministry reviews its objectives and performance measures with a view to improving them. Over time, performance measures are deleted or added, to provide meaningful and objective information to inform readers of this report.

Dealing with risks and building capacity

The ministry recognizes that risk management is an integral facet of all business processes. To minimize potential risks to achieving the ministry's goals, the ministry has implemented the following risk strategies:

• The provincial debt portfolio is managed within the risk policy parameters set by the Ministry of Finance Risk Committee.
• The ministry monitors risks and opportunities throughout the year. These may include dealing with emergencies such as an unusually bad forest fire season or assisting victims of a tragedy. Cost pressures are managed within the financial resources available.
• A contingencies appropriation has been included in the government budget that provides additional funding for unanticipated events. This includes natural disasters, emergency relief and assistance for those in need.
• Various debt management functions have been consolidated, affecting a more efficient process for government borrowing in order to meet approved spending. The risk of errors is managed through on-going checks and procedural controls.
• The ministry manages liabilities against government and the SUCH sectors as well as providing business continuity strategies, investment strategies to reduce government's exposure to lost opportunities, general advice on risk management and facilitating acquisition of insurance for clients.
• The ministry coordinates a public sector self-insurance program allowing the government to cost-effectively retain selected risks rather than transferring them at a premium to third parties, producing annual savings for government.
• The ministry utilizes a risk-based approach for post-payment monitoring of expenditures and allocating internal audit resources. These risk-based approaches save money for government.
• Provide risk management/risk awareness training to staff.

Capacity relates to an organization's ability to continue to thrive and meet its targets and challenges in the future. One key challenge facing the ministry is its ability to recruit and retain professionally trained and qualified staff. Due to skill shortages, the ministry has been working hard to develop a recruitment retention plan which includes the implementation of the Graduate Development Program.

Resources, Strategies and Results

The ministry had a budget surplus exceeding $1.7 million at the end of fiscal 2004/05 and did not utilize the equivalent of 40 FTEs. The surplus is primarily attributed to recruitment lag and over-recoveries.

The ministry was successful in meeting most of its key goals and objectives. Additional funding is available to the ministry in 2005/06 to pursue some needed projects.

The ministry will continue striving to meet and refine its key objectives and include additional objectives as capacity permits.