Financial Management Accountability: A Questionnaire for Managers

April 1992

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Instruction
• Management
• Information and Advice
• Control
• Accountability
• Organization and processes
• Calculating your Results
• Questionnaire Answer Sheet
• Interpretation

Introduction

This questionnaire is organized in terms of five main areas, which correspond to the Financial Management Accountability Framework endorsed by deputy heads and senior financial officers. The five areas are described in the booklet Financial Management Accountability in Departments and Agencies. They are: management, information and advice, control, accountability, and organization and processes. Completing this questionnaire will familiarize you with the main elements of this Framework and help you determine how well you are doing in light of it. Rather than waiting for surprises to surface, either as a part of continuing operations or as a result of audits, we hope that this questionnaire will assist you in taking a pro-active stance in carrying out your financial management responsibilities.

We recognize that financial management is only one part of the integrated function of management, but in a government environment it is a particularly important one. Managers are expected to fully understand financial management and to account for their decisions and practices in that area. However, they do not carry out these responsibilities in a vacuum. They are given tools, in the form of information, advice and instructions, which can have a strong influence on whether they are able to discharge their responsibilities well.

The results of this questionnaire may indicate that some managers are well positioned in relation to the Framework; in such cases, this exercise will help increase confidence. In others, it may identify areas where improvements are needed. In all instances, the exercise will facilitate dialogue on financial management matters.

Above all, we hope that you will find this questionnaire constructive, and that it will help you more fully understand your own financial management practices.

In addition to its use as a tool for personal self-assessment, the questionnaire may be used by departments to get an overview of financial management practices. By examining cumulative results, senior management can identify areas where improvements are required. In such applications, an independent tabulator would consolidate the results of individual responses that would be returned anonymously.

This questionnaire was designed as a self-assessment tool. Individual results are intended to be kept confidential.

INSTRUCTIONS

Each of the five sections of the questionnaire consists of "main" questions. These are numbered from 1 to 45. In italics immediately below many of these main questions are Helpful Considerations. These supportive questions are included to help you interpret the main question and to prompt reflection. They are not meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive. They are generic and could very well be substituted by other items that would be more specifically relevant to your department and particular situation. You are not asked to record answers to these italicized points. We invite you to use them to help you settle on your response to the main questions.

It should take you less than one hour to complete this questionnaire. However, the time you take has no bearing on your score.

Each question has a scale of four numbers [4] [3] [2] [1]. You are asked to answer each question in relation to either the Degree or Frequency as described below.

Degree

Please detach the answer sheet provided as the last page of this questionnaire and use it to record your answers. The answer sheet will also be used to calculate and interpret your results.

MANAGEMENT

Your deputy head must be confident that you are delivering programs giving due consideration to obtaining the best possible value from public resources.

The expectations that support this are:

• program delivery and major project decisions routinely take into account financial management considerations;
• all long- and short-term plans and proposed initiatives include an appropriate analysis of financial implications;
• objective reviews are made of the funding and financial management implications of all plans and proposed initiatives; and
• assets, liabilities, revenues and expenditures are managed to optimize cash flows and to minimize capital costs.

These expectations derive from a manager's responsibility for making well-informed choices in the allocation and use of resources. If you routinely consider alternatives in allocating your resources and use good analytic procedures, you can increase efficiency and effectiveness in your area of responsibility. Similarly, you can get the most out of money entrusted to you if you make choices that optimize cash flow and minimize interest and other costs.

The following questions will help you assess your practices relative to these expectations.

1. Are financial implications considered when choosing the best way of delivering services and products, or carrying out operations?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • When considering a choice, do I know the cost in relation to other choices?
  • Can I evaluate trade-offs between costs and service levels?

2. Is there enough incentive to make decisions that result in more money being available for other uses?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Is there enough attention given to new ways of funding the delivery of services and products?
  • Do I consider cost-recovery, cost-sharing and similar opportunities?

3. Do I get advice from experts on the financial viability of proposals involving significant expenditures?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Can I count on getting good financial advice when I develop my proposals?
  • Do I make sure my proposals check out from a financial perspective?

4. Are my plans and proposals improved as a result of financial review-analysis?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Does the analysis facilitate looking at ways of getting the best value possible from my resources?
  • Does it help me find ways of getting the most out of the resources I have?

5. Are the financial elements properly reviewed before I submit my plans and proposals for approval?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are different expenditure levels and resource mix reviewed when developing my plans and proposals?
  • Do my plans clearly indicate the financial results that are expected?
  • Do my plans relate expenditures to services and operational results?

6. Do my plans and proposals meet the expectations of those who review and approve them?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are my plans consistent with the objectives and priorities of the program?
  • Are my submissions sometimes rejected due to format or other technical requirements?
  • Can the financial content of my proposals withstand challenge?

7. Do I use my operational plan to forecast or adjust my resource requirements during the year?

8. Do my spending decisions reflect good cash management practices?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I take interest costs into account when negotiating terms and conditions of contracts or agreements?
  • Are grants and contributions paid in accordance with the performance schedule?
  • Do I defer purchases, whenever possible without affecting operational requirements?
  • Do I direct my staff to make payments on the due date or otherwise take advantage of discounts?

9. Do my asset management practices result in getting the best possible value from public funds?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are inventories kept to a minimum while meeting my operational requirements?
  • Do I examine lease, make or buy options when making procurement decisions?
  • Do I take into account maintenance, interest and other relevant costs when making replacement decisions (equipment, facilities, etc.)?
  • Do I try to identify opportunities for reallocating or disposing of surplus or underutilized assets?

10. Are we getting the most from the revenue generated by my area of responsibility?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are services billed as soon as possible after they are rendered?
  • Are rates and user fees adjusted periodically?
  • Is there adequate review and followup of overdue accounts?

COMMENTS:

INFORMATION AND ADVICE

Your deputy head must be confident that you are making decisions in light of timely, relevant and reliable financial information, analysis and advice.

The expectations that support this are:

• timely and reliable advice is available to managers at all levels to support their financial management responsibilities;
• relevant and reliable financial management reports support the decision-making, accountability and control needs of departmental managers;
• timely, accurate and consistent information is available to managers for financial management;
• financial information is an integral part of program management information systems; and
• parliamentary and central agency information requirements are consistently met.

Information is one of a manager's most important resources. Reliable and relevant information helps in all aspects of managerial tasks, from making decisions to monitoring. When information is deficient, management is based on assumptions or guesswork. Because information can be overwhelming or difficult to assimilate and all its implications may not always be obvious, getting advice and analysis from specialists is often wise and necessary.

The following questions are intended to help you assess your situation in this area of financial management.

11. Do I receive the right financial information, at the right time, and in the right format?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Is the financial information accurate, timely and complete enough for me to avoid unpleasant surprises?
  • Am I overwhelmed with financial information?

12. Is the financial information I receive already combined (or can it be easily combined) with operational data for use in decisionmaking, planning, monitoring and reporting?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Can I use it to monitor expenditures in relation to my operational workloads and results, such as progress on capital projects, status of transfer payments, service delivery levels, etc.?
  • Can information about purchases be readily matched to deliveries and payments?
  • Can the information in my operational plans be assembled according to purpose, accountability, authority and object of expenditure?

13. How satisfied am I with the mechanisms used to deliver the financial information that I receive?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • Mechanisms can be hardcopy reports, electronic access, meetings, etc.

14. Can I share data from financial systems with other systems electronically?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Can I merge payroll data with other expenditures to forecast my total operating requirements?
  • Can I access payroll data in order to forecast the effect of my personnel decisions (e.g. staffing, classification, overtime and severance) on future expenditures?
  • Can I combine information about purchasing, inventories, expenditures and workloads?

15. Am I satisfied with the quality of the financial management reports I am getting?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are they easy to understand and use?
  • Are they timely and uptodate?
  • Do they allow comparisons between periods, against planstandard or with other similar operations?
  • Can they be used to support the increased flexibility I have with respect to my operating budget?

16. Do the financial reports that I receive enable me to make better decisions?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do they help me assess the efficiency and cost of operations?
  • Do they help me reduce uncertainties about future conditions?
  • Is the information I receive well organized, simply presented and sufficiently complete to explain past performance and help me prepare forecasts?

17. Do I understand the needs of people outside my responsibility centre for information about my financial management?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • "People outside my responsibility centre" may include demands for information placed on you by a number of sources, such as clients, suppliers, local community interests, pressure groups, municipal and provincial governments, other government departments and Parliament, as well as the corporate requirements of your department and central agencies, etc.

18. How confident would I be if asked to confirm the accuracy and completeness of my financial management information?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Would I have to qualify my statement? Would I be able to indicate that any major deficiencies are being addressed?
  • Is my financial management information sufficiently well organized to stand up to a challenge by a parliamentary committee (or other stakeholder)?
  • If I provide input to Part III of the Estimates, is it accurate and complete?

19. Is expert advice available to help me carry out my financial management responsibilities?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Can I get reliable advice from my financial services on such things as cost control, cash management, costing, financial analysis, and budgeting?
  • Can I get dependable advice from financial specialists on legal and technical aspects of financial management, such as interpreting the Financial Administration Act and its regulations?

20. Does the financial management advice I receive help me make better decisions?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Does it help me to identify new service delivery options or to improve existing ones?
  • Does it validate the financial aspects of my proposals?
  • Does it contribute to maximizing financial results?

COMMENTS:

CONTROL

Your deputy head must be confident that cost-effective controls, suitable to the government environment, are in place to safeguard assets and to ensure probity.

The expectations that support this are:

• all legislation, regulations and executive orders applicable to financial management are complied with, and spending limits are observed;
• taking materiality, sensitivity and risk into account, there is an adequate system of internal control over assets, liabilities, revenues and expenditures; and
• the organization's program structure is supported by a complete and reliable set of accounting records that meets departmental and government-wide requirements.

Controls should help you respond to situations in a consistent manner and keep you within your resource level. They can help prevent undesirable mistakes and avoid embarrassment.

The following questions will help you assess your practices in this area of financial management.

21. Are my financial authorities, and those of my staff, clearly understood?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I know the limitations of the authorities delegated to me and to my staff?
  • Is it well understood that the primary responsibility for expenditures rests with those with spending authority even though they may depend on the support of others to carry out review and control measures?
  • Have I received training in what my delegated authorities are and how I can exercise them?

22. Are the authorities delegated to me consistent with my financial and operational responsibilities?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • Am I asked to authorize transactions over which I have no control, or for which I should not be held accountable?

23. Do I have a good sense of the level of risk associated with the authorities delegated to me?

24. Do my financial authorities provide me with enough scope to best use my resources and achieve results?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I have sufficient flexibility in managing my budget to take advantage of new opportunities, and to respond to changing priorities?
  • Is the level of risk expected of me in line with the level of trust placed in me?

25. Are the internal control mechanisms for my area of responsibility well adapted to the nature of my operations and management style?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Examples of internal control mechanisms are delegation of authorities, segregation of duties and limited access.
  • Is the cost of internal controls in line with the accepted level of risk?
  • Is the amount of time and effort devoted to administrative controls reasonable?

26. Are transactions for which I am responsible properly authorized and coded?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Does my staff understand the importance of coding transactions correctly?
  • Does incorrect coding ever cause unpleasant surprises in financial results?
  • Are transactions always authorized in accordance with delegated authorities?

27. Do I clearly understand my responsibilities as a custodian of public property?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I know how much the assets under my responsibility are worth?
  • Do my staff and I know what to do if public property is at risk?

28. Are the measures for safeguarding assets under my responsibility in keeping with their value and risk level?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I take appropriate measures to protect assets that are considered to be critical (high risk in terms of value or sensitivity)? Assets may include property, equipment, vehicles, information, etc.
  • Am I able to ensure adequate protection of public assets?

29. Do my staff and I know what to do if we suspect theft, fraud or misuse of government funds or property?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • How well do my staff and I understand the concept of conflict of interest?
  • Do I promptly address any situation of conflict of interest as best I can?
  • Am I familiar with the requirements for reporting losses of money?

COMMENTS:

ACCOUNTABILITY

Your deputy head must be confident that you understand and report appropriately on your financial accountability.

The expectations that support this are:

• managers at all levels are aware of their financial management responsibilities and have the training and resources to fulfil them;
• adequate and reliable means of monitoring and assessing financial management performance are in place; and
• proper attention is given to audits, reviews, studies and other means of monitoring and assessing financial management performance.

These expectations address the obligation to account for the responsibilities and authorities entrusted in you. It is essential that these expectations be understood and accepted by each manager. The obligation to account can be discharged by making assertions (sometimes called management representations) and by providing assurances on the state of financial management.

The following questions will help you assess your practices in this area of financial management.

30. How well do I understand my financial management responsibilities?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • The guide entitled "Financial Management Accountability in Departments and Agencies" contains a Framework that can be used in this regard.

31. Am I getting the right kind of training and information to keep uptodate with regard to my financial management responsibilities?

32. Do I know how well I am doing in terms of my financial management responsibilities?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are there adequate means (audits and other review mechanisms) to monitor my financial management?
  • Do these means provide assurances about my financial management?

33. Do I achieve the financial objectives established for my area of responsibility?

34. How effective are audits and reviews in providing relevant, credible and objective information on the effectiveness of my financial management practices?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do audits and reviews help me improve my financial management practices? Achieve better results?
  • Assess control or risk levels? Demonstrate accountability?
  • Is the timing of audits and other reviews of my area of responsibility reasonable in relation to materiality and risk?

35. How responsive am I to audits and reviews?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I act promptly on any identified deficiencies and vulnerabilities?
  • Do I participate in reviewing and responding to findings? Do I follow up on recommendations?
  • Are my views and interests properly represented?

36. Am I required to formally account for my financial management through management contracts, accountability accords or similar managerial agreements?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • Is this accountability part of my performance reviews?

37. How well do I report on my accountability up the line and to my constituents/clients?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • Do my reports cover financial and operational results, variances, corrective actions and future plans?

38. Am I as accountable as I am empowered?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • Helpful Considerations:
  • Is there a balance between the extent to which I am empowered to act and the procedures to account for my actions?
  • Am I held accountable for topics on which I have little or no power to act?

COMMENTS:

ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES

Your deputy head needs to be confident that the financial management organization, systems and processes meet the department's contemporary needs.

The expectations that support this are:

• cost-effective, dependable services and systems are provided at all levels to support sound financial management and
• the responsibility for the financial management organization, systems and processes is clearly assigned and communicated throughout the organization.

This section focuses on the infrastructure that supports your financial management responsibilities. Cost-effective support services can enhance your ability to implement your managerial agenda. An appropriate infrastructure is required to support your access to resources, to make it possible for your decisions to be properly communicated, and to help you monitor progress and the achievement of results. As your needs change, it is necessary for the organization, systems, and processes to keep up with new priorities and approaches.

The following questions will help you assess your practices in this area of financial management.

39. Are financial management roles, objectives and policies clearly communicated as they apply to me and my area of responsibility?

• Helpful Consideration:
  • Are the means of communicating financial management policies and procedures appropriate to our needs?

40. Am I familiar with the services that support my financial management responsibilities?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I know who is responsible for these services?
  • Do I understand their constraints?
  • Do I know how to question administrative decisions?

41. Are these services in line with the current needs of my operations?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are these services responsive to my current needs?
  • Am I well served by my financial organization in my role as a budget manager?
  • Do I involve administrative staff in my decisionmaking process?

42. Do I consider that the services I am getting to support my financial management responsibilities are costeffective?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I know the administrative costs associated with my operation?
  • Is it a reasonable proportion of my total program costs?
  • Are the services organized to be effective?

43. Am I getting the most out of today's technology for improving the efficiency of my management?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Are we getting good value from our electronic equipment and automated systems?
  • Are we taking full advantage of electronic data interchange?
  • Do our systems require people to handle data only when human intervention is necessary?
  • Is data captured only once?
  • Is paperburden being reduced?

44. Do I seek to eliminate or reduce duplication and overlap in the processes and products that support my financial management responsibilities?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do I play my part in the design of these processes (e.g. defining my needs)?
  • Do I suggest improvements?

45. Do my staff and I have access to the training and tools that we need to make full use of the systems and services that support my financial management responsibilities?

• Helpful Considerations:
  • Do we have ready access to them? Do we have proper information on how to use them?
  • Do we get adequate training on new and existing systems?

COMMENTS:

Calculating Your Results

Now that you have completed the questionnaire, you should determine your score for each section, as well as your overall result on the answer sheet (bottom right). An interpretation of your results is provided on the reverse side of the answer sheet.

Financial Management Accountability

QUESTIONNAIRE ANSWER SHEET

Each question has a scale of four numbers [4] [3] [2] [1]. You are asked to answer each question in relation to either Degree or Frequency, as indicated for each one. You can refer to the following explanations to help you with your choice.

Degree

If a question does not apply to your situation (for example, the question is about revenue and you have no revenue), simply do not select an answer for that question.

Frequency

MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION AND ADVICE

Calculate your score

1. Add up the points for each section and write the sum in column A below.

2. n column B write the number of questions you answered in each section.

3. Calculate totals for columns A and B, and compute averages.

SEE Interpretation

INTERPRETATION

In assessing the results, please bear in mind that there are many factors that influence your financial management practices. Some are within your control, others are not. For example, the financial information, systems and policies that satisfy the needs of many managers may not be fully compatible with your own needs and preferences. So these results reflect your financial management practices in the context of your particular environment. This assessment can provide you with information to initiate discussions and changes so that the financial information, systems and policies may better serve your needs and those of other managers in your organization. You can apply the following interpretations to averages in each section and to the overall average.

Average scores close to 4 indicate very healthy financial management practices and support services in relation to the Financial Management Accountability Framework. You should have confidence in making assertions about this. You may want to identify sources of evidence that you could use to provide assurances, should you be asked to do so.

Average scores close to 3 indicate that financial management is sound. While there may be room for some improvement, current practices are effective. You may want to take a closer look at your responses to see if there is any need for further review or adjustments on specific aspects. If you were called upon to make assertions on the Framework, you would have to decide whether a qualification is necessary for certain areas.

Average scores close to 2 indicate some vulnerability, and some attention is required to some financial management practices and support services. Further, more detailed analysis and review would be advisable. It would be helpful to review your answers to determine which areas of weakness are within your control. There may be cause for concern but not necessarily alarm. You should consider discussions with colleagues and those responsible for the organization and processes that support your financial management. You may notice some aspects of financial management that are relatively strong, and other areas where some difficulties are being experienced. You would probably have to qualify assertions you make about financial management.

Average scores close to 1 indicate notable difficulty in some areas of financial management. Current practices and support services are significantly different from the expectations of the Financial Management Accountability Framework. A more detailed examination may be in order. A more systematic review may be worthwhile under these circumstances. You should discuss your concerns with your supervisor, your colleagues or your advisor on financial management matters.

If there is one message that we want to leave with you, it is that almost all decisions you make have financial management implications. The boundary between effective general management skills and financial management as such has become blurred, and will become increasingly so. Partly this is a result of a change in the corporate culture of the Public Service and efforts that flow from it. Partly, too, it is a result of improved information technology that makes it possible for managers to command more scope and authority than was possible just a few years ago.

We hope that this exercise has given you an update concerning current expectations in this area, and that you now have a sense of how you are doing in relation to these expectations.

COMMENTS: