Financial Statements 2010-2011

1. Authority and purpose

The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) is a federal agency reporting to Parliament that receives and reviews public complaints about the conduct of members of the RCMP in the performance of any duty or function under the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (RCMP Act). The CPC is entirely separate from and independent of the RCMP. The mandate of the CPC is set out in Part VII of the RCMP Act and can be summarized as follows:

• To receive complaints from the public about the conduct of RCMP members;
• To initiate complaints to delve into RCMP conduct when it is in the public interest to do so;
• To conduct reviews when complainants are not satisfied with the RCMP’s disposition of their complaints;
• To hold hearings and conduct investigations; and
• To report findings and recommendations.

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization.

2. Summary of significant accounting policies

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Treasury Board accounting policies stated below, which are based on Canadian generally accepted accounting principles for the public sector. The presentation and results using the stated accounting policies do not result in any significant differences from Canadian generally accepted accounting principles.

Significant accounting policies are as follows:

(a) Parliamentary authorities

The CPC is financed by the Government of Canada through Parliamentary authorities. Financial reporting of authorities provided to the CPC do not parallel financial reporting according to generally accepted accounting principles since authorities are primarily based on cash flow requirements. Consequently, items recognized in the Statement of Operations and the Statement of Financial Position are not necessarily the same as those provided through authorities from Parliament. Note 3 provides a reconciliation between the bases of reporting.

(b) Net Cash Provided by Government

The CPC operates within the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), which is administered by the Receiver General for Canada. All cash received by the CPC is deposited to the CRF and all cash disbursements made by the CPC are paid from the CRF. The net cash provided by Government is the difference between all cash receipts and all cash disbursements including transactions between departments of the Government.

(c) Amount due from/to CRF

Amounts due from/to the CRF are the result of timing differences at year-end between when a transaction affects authorities and when it is processed through the CRF. Amounts due from the CRF represent the net amount of cash that the CPC is entitled to draw from the CRF without further appropriations to discharge its liabilities.

(d) Revenues

Revenues from regulatory fees are recognized in the accounts based on the services provided in the year.

Other revenues are accounted for in the period in which the underlying transaction or event that gave rise to the revenue takes place.

(e) Expenses

Expenses are recorded on the accrual basis:

• Vacation pay and compensatory leave are accrued as the benefits are earned by employees under their respective terms of employment.
• Services provided without charge by other government departments for accommodation and the employer contributions to the health and dental insurance plans are recorded as operating expenses at their estimated cost.

(f) Employee future benefits

1. Pension benefits: Eligible employees participate in the Public Service Pension Plan, a multiemployer pension plan administered by the Government of Canada. The CPC's contributions to the Plan are charged to expenses in the year incurred and represent the CPC's total obligation to the Plan. Current legislation does not require the CPC to make contributions for any actuarial deficiencies of the Plan.
2. Severance benefits: Employees are entitled to severance benefits under labour contracts or conditions of employment. These benefits are accrued as employees render the services necessary to earn them. The obligation relating to the benefits earned by employees is calculated using information derived from the results of the actuarially determined liability for employee severance benefits for the Government as a whole.

(g) Accounts Receivables and Advances

Accounts receivables and advances are stated at the lower of cost and net recoverable value; a valuation allowance is recorded for receivables where recovery is considered uncertain.

(h) Tangible capital assets

All tangible capital assets and leasehold improvements having an initial cost of $10,000 or more are recorded at their acquisition cost. The CPC does not capitalize intangibles, works of art and historical treasures that have cultural, aesthetic or historical value, assets located on Indian reserves and museum collections.

Amortization of tangible capital assets is done on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of the asset as follows:

Assets under construction are recorded in the applicable capital asset class in the year that they become available for use and are not amortized until they become available for use.

(i) Measurement uncertainty

The preparation of these financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses reported in the financial statements. At the time of preparation of these statements, management believes the estimates and assumptions to be reasonable. The most significant items where estimates are used are the liability for employee future benefits and the estimated life of tangible capital assets. Actual results could significantly differ from those estimated. Management's estimates are reviewed periodically and, as adjustments become necessary, they are recorded in the financial statements in the year they become known.

3. Parliamentary authorities

The CPC receives most of its funding through annual Parliamentary authorities. Items recognized in the Statement of Operations and the Statement of Financial Position in one year may be funded through Parliamentary appropriations in prior, current or future years. Accordingly, the CPC has different net results of operations for the year on a government funding basis than on an accrual accounting basis. The differences are reconciled in the following tables:

(a) Reconciliation of net cost of operations to current year authorities used:

(b) Authorities provided and used:

4. Accounts receivable and advances

The following table presents details of the CPC's accounts receivable and advances:

5. Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

The following table presents details of the CPC's accounts payable and accrued liabilities:

6. Employee future benefits

(a) Pension benefits

The CPC's employees participate in the Public Service Pension Plan, which is sponsored and administered by the Government. Pension benefits accrue up to a maximum period of 35 years at a rate of 2 percent per year of pensionable service, times the average of the best five consecutive years of earnings. The benefits are integrated with Canada/Quebec Pension Plans benefits and they are indexed to inflation.

Both the employees and the CPC contribute to the cost of the Plan. The 2010-11 expense amounts to $433,962 ($434,483 in 2009-10), which represents approximately 1.9 times (1.9 in 2009-10) the contributions by employees.

The CPC's responsibility with regard to the Plan is limited to its contributions. Actuarial surpluses or deficiencies are recognized in the financial statements of the Government of Canada, as the Plan's sponsor.

(b) Severance benefits

The CPC provides severance benefits to its employees based on eligibility, years of service and final salary. These severance benefits are not pre-funded. Benefits will be paid from future authorities. Information about the severance benefits, measured as at March 31, is as follows:

7. Related party transactions

The CPC is related as a result of common ownership to all Government of Canada departments, agencies, and Crown corporations. The CPC enters into transactions with these entities in the normal course of business and on normal trade terms. Also, during the year, the CPC received common services which were obtained without charge from other Government departments as presented in part (a).

(a) Common services provided without charge by other government departments

During the year the CPC received common service without charge from certain common service organizations related to accommodation and the employer's contribution to the health and dental insurance plans. These services provided without charge have been recorded in the CPC's Statement of Operations as follows:

The Government has centralized some of its administrative activities for efficiency and cost-effectiveness purposes and economic delivery of programs to the public. As a result, the Government uses central agencies and common services organization so that one department performs services for all other departments and agencies without charge. The costs of these services, such as payroll and cheque issuance services provided by Public Works and Government Services Canada and audit services provided by the Office of the Auditor General are not included in the CPC's Statement of Operations.

b) Other transactions with related parties

8. Tangible capital assets

For the Year Ended March 31, 2011

Amortization expenses for the year ended March 31, 2011, is $37,187 ($35,703 for the year ended March 31, 2010).

9. Segmented Information

For the Year Ended March 31, 2011
(in dollars)

Presentation by segment is based on the CPC's program activity architecture. The presentation by segment is based on the same accounting policies as described in the Summary of significant accounting policies in note 2. The following table presents the expenses incurred and revenue generated for the main program activities, by major object of expenses and by major type of revenues. The segment results for the period are as follows: