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ARCHIVED - Internal Audit and Evaluation Bureau - Audit of Electronic Record Keeping


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Assurance Statement

The Internal Audit and Evaluation Bureau (IAEB) has completed an audit of electronic record keeping for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (the Secretariat) as part of a broader horizontal audit initiated by the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG). The OCG audit encompasses the responsibilities of three central agencies as well as a sample of 17 large departments and agencies, and will result in a separate audit report focusing on government-wide results.

This report relates specifically to the Secretariat as a large department. While OCG developed the audit program, IAEB conducted both the detailed examination phase and the supplementary audit procedures in order to produce a stand-alone audit report for the Secretariat.

The objective of the audit was to provide assurance that the management control framework over electronic record keeping is in place and provides relevant, timely and accessible information to support decision making at the departmental level. Work was carried out by IAEB from February 2011 to July 2011 and covered activity during the 2010–11 and 2011–12 fiscal years. Specifically, the audit covered the following five lines of enquiry:

  • Policy and Governance;
  • People and Capacity;
  • Enterprise and Information Architecture;
  • Information Management Tools and Applications; and
  • Information Management and Service Delivery.

We conclude with a high level of assurance that although key aspects of a management control framework over unstructured electronic record keeping are in place within the Secretariat, a number of significant improvements are necessary relative to Enterprise and Information Architecture, Information Management Tools and Applications, and Information Management and Service Delivery, in order to fully ensure the provision of relevant, timely and accessible electronic information to support decision makingand general IM practices.

A management response and action plan has been developed by the Secretariat and is presented in Appendix D.   

The audit consisted of interviews with Secretariat staff, document review and detailed testing and analysis of administrative data. We interviewed a sample of staff members to gain an understanding of information management practices within the Secretariat and reviewed documents to validate our findings. OCG provided an audit work plan and program for the first phase of the examination. This audit work plan was supplemented by additional audit work carried out by IAEB staff during the second phase to provide further assurance in selected areas. Additional interviews and a document review were also conducted. Where merited, audit testing beyond OCG requirements was conducted to support the development of a stand-alone audit report for the Secretariat.

The audit approach and methodology followed the Internal Auditing Standards for the Government of Canada and The Institute of Internal Auditors' International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing.

In the professional judgment of the Chief Audit Executive, sufficient and appropriate audit procedures have been conducted and evidence has been gathered to support the accuracy of the opinion provided in this report. The opinion is based on a comparison of the conditions, as they existed at the time of the audit, against pre-established audit criteria. The opinion is applicable only to the entities examined and for the time period specified.