Turning up the Heat.

According to Denis Desautels, the Auditor General of Canada, the government faces major challenges in being ready to implement its Financial Information Strategy (FIS) in 2001. FIS is designed to help the government strengthen its management of business lines and its accountability to Parliament.

"I fully support this important government initiative," says Desautels. "I am concerned that managers in government lack the modem tools they need to make effective business decisions on the programs they manage. These tools have long been available in the private sector."

The Financial Information Strategy is mainly about improving decision-making by giving program managers more relevant, reliable and timely financial information. This would allow them to compare current and past performance, to prepare trend analyses and to find out how much their programs are costing on an ongoing basis. Currently, all financial transactions are processed centrally, but under FIS, departments will take on total responsibility for maintaining this information in their own systems. Departments are therefore key to the success of the strategy.

The report points to the responsibility of deputy ministers to implement FIS in their department and raises concerns about a lack of commitment by these senior managers.