Management Results

To ensure that the CRA’s tax and benefit services have the guidance, infrastructure, and resources needed for successful delivery, our interrelated human resources, information technology, and other management strategies must be fully integrated. During 2007-2008, we made key investments in our infrastructure to enhance our effectiveness. We were also active in modernizing our service delivery to take advantage of emerging technology while continuing to develop a knowledgeable, professional, and values-driven workforce.

Management oversight

The CRA is empowered with a unique governance regime that designates distinct responsibilities and accountabilities to our Minister, Board of Management, and Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer. In 2007-2008, our management performance was assessed through two means: the Management Accountability Framework (MAF) assessment conducted by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), and the Board of Management Oversight Framework (BoMOF) assessment conducted by the Board. These two separate assessments ensured that several indicators falling under the legislated authorities of the Board, and not assessed by TBS, were addressed.

The 2007-2008 TBS MAF assessment contained positive results. Of the eleven indicators against which the CRA was assessed, we received three “strong” ratings and eight “acceptable” ratings. Although the CRA was found to be at or above the federal public sector norm for all of the indicators against which we were assessed, TBS identified two areas in which we could strengthen management practices: our corporate performance framework, and financial management and control. We are committed to addressing these areas in the coming year.

To complement the TBS framework and to support the Board in the exercise of its oversight responsibilities, the Board and our senior management developed, during 2007-2008, a BoMOF.

Results from the first BoMOF assessment were very positive. Of the 19 indicators against which we were assessed, the CRA received 15 “strong” ratings and four “acceptable” ratings.

The results of these assessments provide Canadians with assurance that management excellence is being promoted in the CRA.

The management of risk

The effective management of risk provides many benefits to an organization, including:

• more rigorous support of strategic planning and performance management;
• better outcomes in effectiveness and efficiency;
• greater openness and transparency in decision making and in the conducting of business; and
• better preparedness for initiatives such as reviews, evaluations, and audits.

As an important element in both the MAF and BoMOF assessments, TBS and the Board each consider risk management to be key to the sound overall administration of the CRA. In March 2006, our Enterprise Risk Management Policy was established to ensure risk management is applied in a consistent and systematic manner at the corporate, operational, and project levels.

Our Corporate Risk Inventory 2007, which is a snapshot of the CRA’s risk status, was one of the sources used in establishing our 2007-2010 Corporate Audit and Evaluation Plan. The CRA Corporate Risk Inventory 2007 was also a key tool used by senior management during its 2007-2008 strategic planning deliberations and related decision-making.

To address the risks identified in this inventory, our senior executives developed the CRA Risk Action Plan – Agency Top Risks, which identified strategies for addressing our top risks.

Two of these top risks—non-compliance with tax legislation and growth in debt—are discussed in Achieving Our Tax Services Strategic Outcome. Results achieved in 2007-2008 related to our top information technology risks are discussed below.

Information technology responsiveness and sustainability

The CRA collects and processes large amounts of data. Our information technology infrastructure must support the achievement of our strategic outcomes, the confidentiality of taxpayer information, and meet Canadians’ expectations for electronic services.

Our information technology infrastructure is currently housed in data centres, where we maintain all critical tax and benefits data, applications, and electronic services delivered by the CRA to Canadians. Our national network and distributed technology infrastructure connects all sites and supports our workforce. During 2007-2008, the following steps were taken to ensure our primary service channels are secure and reflect the high standards of the Government of Canada:

• we partnered with Public Works and Government Services Canada on plans for a new shared data centre facility;
• Our Data Centre Recoverability project was completed, thereby positioning us to meet our established goals of resuming critical business operations within 72 hours (Recovery Time Objective (RTO)) and only losing up to 24 hours of data (Recovery Point Objective) in the event of the physical loss of a data centre;
• we completed upgrades to the electrical power system at one of our data centres to ensure a loss of power would not disrupt our ongoing business; and
• we also contributed to the greening of IT by adding filters to our generator exhaust systems at one data centre, significantly reducing carbon monoxide emissions.

In addition, to enable us to maintain our capacity to meet the expectations of Canadians, we put in place a strategy to assess our software and to identify those applications that are not sustainable for the long-term. Steps such as these are critical to ensuring that we meet our current and future compliance and service delivery needs in a timely and effective manner.

Maintaining trust

The confidence Canadians have in the CRA’s integrity is fundamental to our success in administering tax and benefit programs. Since 2000, we have conducted an annual survey to assess Canadians views towards the CRA and their satisfaction with specific program aspects. Our 2007 Annual Corporate Survey reveals that we have been successful over the past year in maintaining a positive public image. The number of Canadians that rate our overall performance as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ has increased three percentage points over 2006. Canadians’ satisfaction with their most recent service experience, however, has marginally decreased. As in past years, negative attitudes continue to be linked to general perceptions about the CRA, about the federal government as a whole, and about taxation in general, rather than to any specific service-related difficulties encountered.

We began to implement our branding strategy along a number of fronts: raising employee awareness; introducing a consistent visual identity for the organization; and developing an internal governance structure to further implementation efforts.

The Federal Accountability Action Plan brought forward thirteen specific measures to help strengthen accountability and increase transparency and oversight in government operations. Consequently, we developed a three-year Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Chief Financial Officer (CFO) certification process during 2007-2008 that involves the identification, documentation, and testing of internal controls. The information generated will allow our CEO or CFO to answer specific Parliamentary questions related to the management of the CRA, such as the effectiveness of our internal controls.

We also continued to build our capacity for assessing and reporting on internal controls over financial reporting. In this regard, we released the first Report on the CRA’s Controls relating to the Corporation Income Tax Program. This report provides assurance to provincial and territorial governments of the reliability of CRA’s financial reporting.

Pursuant to our 2006 Project Management Policy, we took steps to demonstrate to the Board and to TBS that all CRA projects are consistently managed according to basic principles.

Our Capital Investment Project Management reporting process was created to provide the Board with quarterly reports on major project delivery performance, including scheduling, cost, and scope. This provides assurance that risks have been identified and appropriate mitigation strategies have been applied to safeguard the CRA’s assets and reputation.

Keeping taxpayer information secure is also key to maintaining the trust of taxpayers. All negotiations of new information exchange agreements with partners include a review of the recipient organization’s security policies and processes. In addition, the recipient organization must agree to perform a regular internal audit review of the use, communication, retention, and disposition of the taxpayer information in question, and to report its findings to the CRA.

We constantly remind our employees of their responsibilities to protect such information; in 2007-2008, we provided 457 security awareness sessions to a total of 10,048 employees. In addition, we undertook the following initiatives this past year to prevent our employees from inappropriate access to protected information.

• We completed a compliance assurance and monitoring framework for our System Access Profile Program to ensure that we appropriately manage employees’ access rights to CRA systems.
• We also launched a project to establish a National Audit Trail Monitoring Program to allow the CRA to maintain consistent and accessible audit trail records and enable proactive and automated detection of possible unauthorized use and suspicious activity.

As with all federal departments and agencies, the CRA is subject to the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. These Acts give Canadians the right to access information that is under the control of a government institution within legislated timeframes.

In October 2006, a significant step was taken by the federal and Ontario governments to increase the harmonization of the tax systems in Canada, reduce compliance costs for businesses, and reduce administration costs for governments with the signing of the agreement to transfer the administration of Ontario corporate tax to the CRA. This agreement will save Ontario businesses up to $100 million annually in reduced compliance costs.

This year, we undertook the following in preparation for the phased transfer of Ontario’s corporate tax functions, under the CTAO initiative.

• Over 300 Ontario Ministry of Revenue employees accepted employment at the CRA to help ensure the successful delivery of the province’s corporate tax program.
• As of February 2008, Ontario corporations began making a single instalment payment for the 2009 taxation year, thereby reducing their administrative costs.
• A communication strategy was implemented to ensure that Ontario-based corporations and tax advisors understand the way in which a single tax administration will impact them and whom they should contact for answers.

These accomplishments illustrate our commitment to maintaining the trust of Canadians. We believe that maintaining this trust is fundamental to our success in administering tax and benefit programs.

Human resources capacity and capability

To deliver our tax and benefits programs, we require a diverse and adaptable workforce with strong leadership and superior technical expertise. In June 2007, the Clerk of the Privy Council introduced his 2007-2008 Public Service Renewal Action Plan ( PSRAP ), which identified key priorities for ensuring the federal Public Service meets future challenges. Our human resources agenda is well positioned to respond to the needs of our business while being aligned with the PSRAP .

This past year, we developed the first annual Canada Revenue Agency Workforce Plan (AWP), which integrates workforce and business planning through such steps as increasing the mobility of work to benefit from employees’ knowledge and experience and meet our business needs, promoting employee movement across various business lines, and building an effective and strategic recruitment approach.

Attracting new and excellent talent will help ensure that we can continue to respond to the evolving needs of Canadians. In 2007-2008, we set a target of recruiting 165 indeterminate post-secondary graduates. We surpassed this goal by appointing 249 post-secondary graduates to indeterminate positions, through initiatives such as our Auditor and Aboriginal Tax Officer Apprenticeship programs.

We must continue to invest in our employees to ensure that they have the necessary skills and competencies. We achieved our 90% target for putting in place learning plans for our indeterminate employees. This result is a significant increase from 67% achieved in 2006-2007.

Leadership development is essential for the effective management of the CRA. In 2007-2008, approximately 150 employees participated in our corporate management development programs. We also expanded delivery of our Management and Leadership Program courses and, as a result, over 2,600 participants attended learning events.

For any organization, relationships between the employer and its employees must remain positive for business goals to be met. On December 3, 2007, an historic milestone was achieved when the CRA signed a new collective agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada that was negotiated before the expiration of the former collective agreement. A key component of this agreement was the pay negotiation for our Services and Programs (SP) group, which replaced 16 former occupational groups for approximately 25,000 employees.

Our staffing-related Pre-Qualification Process (PQP), which involves standardized assessments, is a critical part of building our organizational capacity. In 2007-2008, we made PQP mandatory for our internal selections process, resulting in an increase of 8% in the cumulative average time to staff (compared to 2006-2007). Our intention is to reduce the average staffing time.

Conclusion

During the past year, we delivered on our management priorities through our strong performance, timely and responsive decision-making, a fully accountable senior management culture, and improved planning and reporting, thereby contributing to the effective governance of the CRA. Based on our achievements this past year related to our priorities, as well as the steps we took to strengthen our management infrastructure, we believe that we effectively responded to the CRA’s strategic outcomes for both the administration of Canada’s tax laws and the delivery of benefits.

Date modified:

2009-01-29