The department has 17 outstanding recommendations, including one new recommendation in this report. Nine recommendations have been outstanding for more than three years. The department has three outstanding recommendations which are ready for assessment.
As part of our audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Province of Alberta, we examined changes to the payment dates for the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) Program and assessed its impact on the public reporting of government program expenses for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. We found that the Department of Community and Social Services’ original recording of AISH program benefit costs, as well as Income Support Program benefits, was not in accordance with Public Sector Accounting Standards and this was subsequently corrected. We recommend Alberta Treasury Board and Finance implement a process to review and approve significant accounting changes initiated by departments prior to their inclusion in the province’s quarterly and annual fiscal reporting (see page 138).
The department has implemented our recommendation to consistently apply its policies when recommending to Treasury Board Committee approval of a payment based on agreement request (see page 143). In addition, our February 2014 recommendation to improve the public sector pension plan sustainability review processes is no longer relevant because the circumstances related to the recommendation have changed (see page 142). We issued unqualified independent auditor’s reports on the 2019–2020 financial statements for the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission; ATB Financial, the Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation, and the endowment funds, regulated funds, pension plans, and other entities in the ministry. There are no new or outstanding recommendations to any of these entities in this report.
