Annex to the Statement of Management Responsibility Including Internal Control Over Financial Reporting – Fiscal Year 2018–2019 (Unaudited)
Introduction
In support of an effective system of internal control, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) annually assesses the performance of its financial controls to ensure that:
- financial arrangements or contracts are entered into only when sufficient funding is available;
- payments for goods and services are made only when the goods and services are received or the conditions of contracts or other arrangements have been satisfied;
- payments have been properly authorized.
LAC will leverage the results of the periodic core control audits performed by the Office of the Comptroller General. The date of the first LAC audit related to internal controls has yet to be determined. A summary of the results of the assessment conducted during the 2018–2019 fiscal year is provided in section 2.
Assessment results during the 2018–2019 fiscal year
In 2018–2019, following a risk analysis review, LAC implemented its ongoing monitoring plan and assessed key internal controls for the following processes:
- Entity-level controls
- Purchasing
- Budgets and forecasts
- Accounts payables
- Revenues, receivables, receipts
Entity-level controls and their effectiveness define LAC's culture and commitment to integrity and ethical values and provide additional assurance of the reliability of controls at the process level and ultimately support LAC's ability to achieve its objectives.
For the most part, the overall financial controls associated with payments for goods and services are functioning well and these payments have been properly authorized. Those controls form an adequate basis for LAC’s system of internal control to fulfill its departmental mandate.
Assessment plan
LAC will continue to monitor the performance of its system of internal control, with a focus on the core controls related to financial transactions.