Directive on the Stewardship of Financial Management Systems
Ensures that the departmental financial and materiel management system, as well as the financial information input and output from program systems and central systems, provides accurate, reliable, accessible and timely financial information.
Date modified: 2023-04-18
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Policy:
Terminology:
Topic:
Hierarchy
Archives
This directive replaces:
- Stewardship of Financial Management Systems, Directive on the [2012-04-01]
- Financial Management Systems, Directive on the Stewardship of [2017-04-01]
Glossary
- critical financial risk (risque financier majeur)
- An event with reasonable probability that a significant unfunded financial obligation may arise, the department may be unable to fulfill its mandate, or that the event may cause significant damage to the reputation of the Government of Canada. The identification of a critical financial risk depends on the department's operating environment and management's professional judgment.
- financial authorities (pouvoirs financiers)
Includes:
- Certification authority (Financial Administration Act, section 34)
- Payment authority (Financial Administration Act, section 33)
- financial management (gestion financière)
- A continuum of finance-related activities undertaken to ensure sound and prudent use of public funds in an effective, efficient and economical manner.
- financial management system (FMS) (système de gestion financière (SGF))
- Any combination of business processes (end-to-end, automated and manual), procedures, controls, data and software applications, all of which are categorized as either program systems or central systems, that produces financial information and related non-financial information.
- financial plan (plan financier ministériel)
- A multi-year plan providing the basis for identifying the elements of the work and priorities to be delivered to achieve a department's mandate and programs. A financial plan supports the development of the in-year departmental budget and related allocations of resources.
- financial reporting (rapport financier)
- Internal and external financial reports and disclosures. Internal financial reporting can include financial information that supports decision making, risk assessment, planning, budgeting, resource allocations, accounting, performance assessments and reports. External reporting includes all financial statements, reports or disclosures, including those prepared for Parliament or designed to be made public.
- internal control over financial management (contrôle interne en matière de gestion financière)
- A set of measures and activities that provide reasonable assurance of the effectiveness and efficiency of the financial management activities of the department.
- internal control over financial reporting (contrôle interne en matière de rapports financiers)
- A subset of the system of internal control over financial management. Internal control over financial reporting is a set of measures and activities that allow senior management and users of financial statements to have reasonable assurance of the accuracy and completeness of the department's financial statements.
- senior departmental managers (cadres supérieurs du ministère)
- For the purposes of the Policy on Financial Management, senior departmental managers are typically departmental managers who report directly to a deputy head and are accountable for effective financial management within their areas of responsibility.