Financial Statements (unaudited) 2011-2012

1. Authority and objectives

The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (Commission) 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 Commission is entirely separate from and independent of the RCMP. The mandate of the Commission 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;^{Footnote 1}
• 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 handling of their complaints;
• to hold hearings and conduct investigations; and
• to report findings and make recommendations.

The Commission has two programs, Civilian review of RCMP members' conduct in the performance of their duties and Internal Services. Internal Services include all services that support the program, including management and oversight, communications, legal, human resources, financial management, procurement, information management and technology and other administrative services.

2. Summary of significant accounting policies

These financial statements have been prepared using the government's accounting policies stated below, which are based on Canadian public sector accounting standards. The presentation and results using the stated accounting policies do not result in any significant differences from Canadian public sector accounting standards.

Significant accounting policies are as follows:

(a)  Parliamentary authorities

The Commission is financed by the Government of Canada through parliamentary authorities. Financial reporting of authorities provided to the Commission does 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 Departmental Net Financial Position and in 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. The planned results amounts in the Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position are the amounts reported in the future-oriented financial statements included in the 2011–2012 Report on Plans and Priorities. The future-oriented financial statements for 2011–2012 have been restated to reflect the revenue net of non-respendable amounts. This restatement resulted in an $11,850 increase in net costs of operations before government funding and transfers. In addition, the future-oriented financial statements have also been reclassified to conform to the current year's presentation.

(b) Net cash provided by government

The Commission operates within the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), which is administered by the Receiver General for Canada. All cash received by the Commission is deposited to the CRF and all cash disbursements made by the Commission are paid from the CRF. The net cash provided by the 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 or 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 Commission is entitled to draw from the CRF without further authorities to discharge its liabilities.

(d) Revenues

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

Revenues that are non-respendable are not available to discharge the Commission's liabilities. While the Chair is expected to maintain accounting control, he or she has no authority regarding the disposition of non-respendable revenues. As a result, non-respendable revenues are considered to be earned on behalf of the Government of Canada and are therefore presented in reduction of the entity's gross revenues.

(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 employer contributions to the health and dental insurance plans are recorded as operating expenses at their estimated cost.

(f) Employee future benefits

Pension benefits: Eligible employees participate in the Public Service Pension Plan, a multiemployer pension plan administered by the Government of Canada. The Commission's contributions to the plan are charged to expenses in the year incurred and represent the Commission's total obligation to the plan. Current legislation does not require the Commission to make contributions for any actuarial deficiencies of the plan. The Commission'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.

Severance benefits: Employees entitled to severance benefits under labour contracts or conditions of employment earn these benefits as services necessary to earn them are rendered. 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 receivable and advances

Accounts receivables 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 Commission 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:

(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 useful 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 Commission receives most of its funding through annual parliamentary authorities. Items recognized in the Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position and the Statement of Financial Position in one year may be funded through parliamentary authorities in prior, current or future years. Accordingly, the Commission 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 payable and accrued liabilities

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

5. Employee future benefits

(a) Pension benefits

The Commission's employees participate in the Public Service Pension Plan, which is sponsored and administered by the Government of Canada. 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 Commission contribute to the cost of the plan. The 2011–2012 expense amounts to $408,907 ($433,962 in 2010–2011), which represents approximately 1.8 times the contributions by employees (1.9 in 2010–2011). The Commission'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 Commission provides severance benefits to its employees based on eligibility, years of service and salary at termination of employment. These severance benefits are not pre-funded. Benefits will be paid from future authorities. As part of collective agreement negotiations with certain employee groups, and changes to conditions of employment for executives and certain non-represented employees, the accumulation of severance benefits under the employee severance pay program ceased for these employees commencing in 2012. Employees subject to these changes have been given the option to be immediately paid the full or partial value of benefits earned to date or collect the full or remaining value of benefits on termination from the public service. These changes have been reflected in the calculation of the outstanding severance benefit obligation. Information about the severance benefits, measured as at March 31, is as follows:

6. Accounts receivable and advances

The following table presents details of accounts receivable and advances:

7. Related party transactions

The Commission is related as a result of common ownership to all government departments, agencies, and Crown corporations. The Commission enters into transactions with these entities in the normal course of business and on normal trade terms. In addition, the Commission has an agreement with Public Safety Canada related to the provision of finance, human resources, and information technology and management services. Also, during the year, the Commission 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 Commission received services without charge from certain common service organizations related to accommodation, legal services, the employer's contribution to the health and dental insurance plans and workers' compensation coverage. These services provided without charge have been recorded in the Commission's Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position as follows:

The government has centralized some of its administrative activities for efficiency, cost-effectiveness purposes and economic delivery of programs to the public. As a result, the government uses central agencies and common services organizations 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 Commission's Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position.

(b) Other transactions with related parties

Expenses and revenues disclosed in (b) exclude common services provided without charge, which are already disclosed in (a).

8. Tangible capital assets
(in dollars)

* Amortization expense for the year ended March 31, 2012, is $70,280 ($37,187 for the year ended March 31, 2011).

9. Segmented information

Presentation by segment is based on the Commission'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:

10. Accounting changes

During 2011, amendments were made to Treasury Board Accounting Standard 1.2 – Departmental and Agency Financial Statements to improve financial reporting by government departments and agencies. The amendments are effective for financial reporting of fiscal years ending March 31, 2012, and later. The significant changes to the Commission's financial statements are described below. These changes have been applied retroactively, and comparative information for 2010–2011 has been restated.

Net debt (calculated as liabilities less financial assets) is now presented in the Statement of Financial Position. Accompanying this change, the Commission now presents a Statement of Change in Departmental Net Debt and no longer presents a Statement of Equity. Revenues are now presented net of non-respendable amounts in the Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position and Statement of Financial Position. The effect of this change was to increase the net cost of operations after government funding and transfers by $7,993 for 2012 ($13,768 for 2011).

Government funding and transfers, as well as the credit related to services provided without charge by other government departments, are now recognized in the Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position below "Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers." In previous years, the Commission recognized these transactions directly in the Statement of Equity of Canada. The effect of this change was to decrease the net cost of operations after government funding and transfers by $8,929,717 for 2012 ($8,438,447 for 2011).

11. Comparative information

Comparative figures have been reclassified to conform to the current year's presentation.