1. Introduction

This quarterly report has been prepared by management as required by section 65.1 of the Financial Administration Act and in the form and manner prescribed by the Treasury Board. It should be read in conjunction with the 2021-22 Main Estimates and the Directive on Accounting Standards, GC 4400 Departmental Quarterly Financial Report. This quarterly report has not been subject to an external audit or review.

The Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC) is responsible for providing support services and facilities to a number of federal administrative tribunals by way of a single, integrated organization. These services include the specialized services required by each tribunal (e.g., registry, research and analysis, legal and other mandate or case activities specific to each tribunal), as well as internal services (e.g., human resources, financial services, information management and technology, accommodations, security, planning and communications).

Further information on the mandate, roles, responsibilities and programs of the ATSSC can be found in the organization’s 2021-22 Departmental Plan.

1.1. Basis of Presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities (Annex A) includes the ATSSC's spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the ATSSC, consistent with the Main Estimates for the 2021-22 fiscal year. This quarterly report has been prepared using a special purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities.

The authority of Parliament is required before money can be spent by the Government. Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.

The ATSSC uses the full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual departmental financial statements, which are part of the departmental results reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis. The main difference between the quarterly financial report and the departmental financial statements is the timing of when revenues and expenses are recognized.

2. Highlights of Fiscal Quarter and Fiscal Year-to-Date Results

This section highlights the significant items that contributed to the net increase or decrease in authorities available for the year, and actual expenditures for the quarter ended June 30, 2021.

The ATSSC’s financial structure is mainly composed of voted budgetary authorities, namely Vote 1—Program Expenditures and Vote Netted Revenue (VNR) authority, as well as statutory authorities for contributions to employee benefit plans. The VNR gives the ATSSC authority to make recoverable expenditures against the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Employment Insurance (EI) operating accounts. Graph 1 below shows the ATSSC’s gross and net budgetary authorities and expenditures for the first quarter of 2021-22. For more details, refer to the Statement of Authorities table presented in Annex A.

Graph 1: Comparison of budgetary authorities and expenditures for the first quarter ended June 30, 2021, and June 30, 2020.

The ATSSC expended $21.6 million (19% of total authorities available for use), including Employee Benefit Plan (EBP), in the first quarter of 2021-22, compared to $19.2 million (23% of total authorities available for use) in the same quarter of 2020-21. The majority of expenditures related to personnel and totaled $19.4 million (90% of gross expenditures). The remaining $2.2 million primarily included professional and special services (mainly informatics services, translation costs and consulting services), rental costs and informatic equipment costs.

2.1. Significant Changes to Authorities

(Please refer to the Statement of Authorities table presented in Annex A.)

As of June 30, 2021, the net authorities available for use (including EBP) totaled $74.6 million, an increase of $20.1 million compared to the prior year. This increase is due to receiving full supply of the Main Estimates in the first quarter of 2021-22 as opposed to partial supply in the first quarter of 2020-21 as a result of the extension into the Fall of the Parliamentary supply study period in 2020-21 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

2.2. Significant Changes to Vote Netted Revenue

(Please refer to the Statement of Authorities table presented in Annex A.)

As of June 30, 2021, the VNR authorities increased from $29.1 million in 2020-21 to $38.7 million in 2021-22. As noted in the section above, this increase is due to receiving full supply of the Main Estimates in the first quarter of 2021-22 as opposed to partial supply in the first quarter of 2020-21 due to the extension of the supply study period.

2.3. Significant Changes to Expenditures

(Please refer to the Departmental Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object table presented in Annex B.)

Expenditures for the First Quarter

First quarter gross budgetary expenditures increased from $19.2 million in 2020-21 to $21.6 million in 2021-22 mainly due to an increase in personnel expenditures ($2.1 million) related to the increase in salary rates resulting from the signing of collective agreements, and an increase in professional and special services ($0.2M) primarily related to informatics services, translation costs and consulting services.