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Expectation (d): Sustainable Development – The Board must assure itself that sustainable development is embedded in the way the Agency does business.

Assessment Criteria

• Federal sustainable development targets are met
• Internal sustainable development targets are met

Information Considered by the Board

The CRA has met or is on track to meet all 11 federal sustainable development targets. The Agency had increased its efforts to ensure that all contracts valued at over $1M include appropriate SD clauses and environmental specifications. In 2012-2013, CRA met the target level of 100%.

The CRA 2011-2014 Sustainable Development Strategy sets out goals and targets that exceed those in the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy. This strategy and the Agency's supporting national action plan (NAP) describe the CRA commitments and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of our operations, to improve efficiencies, and to integrate SD considerations into core decision-making and accountability processes. On April 1, 2012, the SD program revised the NAP and introduced a new functional delivery model under which functional areas are directly responsible for achieving and reporting on certain SD targets and activities. Preliminary results suggest that this model is effective in meeting or positioning the Agency to meet all 20 internal SD targets by March 31, 2014.

Board’s Assessment

The Board observed that the Agency is meeting the goals and targets set out in the CRA 2011-2014 Sustainable Development Strategy.

Expectation (e): Agency Performance Indicators – The Board must assure itself that the Agency uses high-level performance indicators that track the Agency’s operational and strategic progress.

Assessment Criteria

• Key performance indicators that support a focus on business priorities are identified
• Continuous development and improvement of the performance measurement framework is in line with leading practices

Information Considered by the Board

The CRA developed a set of key performance indicators, the Agency Performance Indicators (API), that supports a focus on business priorities. In July 2012, the Board approved the API and the API framework. The framework reflects the Agency's business priorities by focusing on maximizing revenue, improving the experience of taxpayers and benefit recipients, operational excellence, realizing employee potential, and environmental influences.

To assist in developing the API, the CRA engaged an external consultant with international experience, who assured the Agency that the areas covered by the API and the identified performance indicators are in line with the international leading practice. The Agency identified areas where performance information is not yet available and where research projects will be undertaken to determine how best to measure outcomes.

Board’s Assessment

The Board observed that the Agency has made progress in developing the Agency Performance Indicators but does not yet have the capacity to measure medium and long term outcomes for all its interactions with taxpayers. All countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are struggling with this issue. While the CRA has been recognized by the OECD for its comprehensive reporting, the Agency needs to continue its move to develop horizontal, longer term outcome measures.

Expectation (f): Management of Business Change - The Board must assure itself that the Agency has processes in place to manage and implement its business change.

Assessment Criteria

• The transformation agenda is implemented and the required results are delivered
• Business continuity is maintained while delivering on the transformation agenda

Information Considered by the Board

The Agency created a comprehensive oversight framework to ensure that the transformation agenda deliverables and savings are achieved on time and within budget. The Agency Transformation Office (ATO), established in January 2012, has been extended until March 2014 to continue its work of ensuring an integrated approach to implementation of the transformation initiatives. CRA also introduced dedicated transformation teams, at the branch and regional levels, to ensure that unique functional and regional impacts were effectively managed. To support the implementation of the transformation agenda, the Agency created a number of supporting governing bodies and a series of working groups to provide oversight for complex, horizontal or sensitive initiatives. The Board received updates on the status of the initiatives under central governance, information on upcoming activities, and recent milestones achieved.

The comprehensive governance structure provided a venue to monitor impacts of transformation on core business and develop coordinated responses to emerging issues. Quarterly reports to AMC provided further assurance by allowing monitoring of key indicators. CRA maintained its services, meeting all caller accessibility and service level targets for tax, benefits and charities enquiries, and four of the five returns processing service standards. The upward trend in the uptake of electronic services continued, which is consistent with the Agency's migration to electronic objectives.

Through the Staffing Management Plan, the Agency exercised a high degree of oversight on staffing decisions and diligently managed vacancies to maximize the opportunities for placing affected employees, while enabling the Agency to recruit highly-skilled individuals when required to maintain program delivery.

Board’s Assessment

The Board observed that business change initiatives are on budget and on time. The Board noted that Management of Business Change is approaching a strong rating, however this is contingent upon the Agency's ability to adapt to ongoing change as we move forward.

Expectation (g): Integrity – The Board must assure itself that the Agency has measures in place to make integrity part of operations and decision making at the CRA.

Assessment Criteria

• Measures to foster and promote a culture of integrity are taken
• Measures to prevent, monitor, detect, and manage breaches of integrity are taken
• Measures to evaluate and report on the Integrity Framework’s effectiveness are taken
• Measures to include integrity in the development of current and future leaders are taken

Information Considered by the Board

In March 2012, the Board approved an updated Code of Ethics and Conduct that incorporates the new Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector and provides additional clarity in specific areas such as unauthorized access to taxpayer information. In addition, improvements were made to the discipline policy instruments to deal with misconduct related to unauthorized access and disclosure of information. The new Conflict of Interest Policy and directives will be completed in 2013 and will provide employees with information on how to prevent, identify, disclose, and manage a conflict of interest.

The Internal Fraud Control Program, in collaboration with four tax centres, began the fraud risk assessment pilot project on the T1 Taxpayer Requested Reassessment Program to identify internal fraud risk scenarios and internal controls. The assessment and recommendations to enhance prevention and/or detection of internal fraud will be prepared for consideration by management in the next fiscal year.

The Agency launched various communication activities in 2012-2013, in support of the CRA Integrity Framework, which was implemented in 2011-2012. The Integrity Framework element "Evaluate and Report on Framework Effectiveness" includes a series of instruments that examine whether the objectives of the Integrity Framework are achieved.

The Agency's leadership learning products include an integrity component to increase understanding of, and to communicate, the key integrity-related roles and responsibilities of CRA leaders. A learning program for new CRA managers, Leadership Plus, is under development and will be fully deployed in the fall of 2013. It will include a module on integrity and new or enhanced integrity-related topics such as Preventing and Resolving Harassment, Employment Equity, Discipline, and Health and Safety.

Board’s Assessment

The Board observed that the Agency has placed significant priority on enhancing integrity over the last 24 months and continues to make good progress.

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