Research Highlights

Accountability Without Abundance: Lessons from Small Jurisdictions
by Lesley Burns

How do parliaments hold governments to account when resources are limited but expectations are high?

This question was at the heart of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Small Branches Conference in the Maldives, where CAAF was honoured to participate as a session facilitator. The conference brought together representatives from the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Europe, Africa, Australia, and South Asia and highlighted a shared reality: there is a strong need for accountable government that does not depend on large budgets or extensive machinery. Conference participants highlighted the following shared challenges.

Independent Oversight in Local Government: Lessons for British Columbia
by Gordon Ruth

Local governments in British Columbia manage billions of taxpayer dollars each year. They build infrastructure, deliver essential services, and shape the daily lives of residents. Yet despite this scale, most operate without independent oversight. This absence is not a minor technicality—it leaves a gap in accountability and weakens confidence in how public funds are managed.

This article offers lessons on how national and sub-national audit offices can be provided the mandate to include local government ensuring that this third level of government has access to independent audit and oversight.

Challenges and Practices in Small Jurisdiction PACs Around the World
by James Oulton

A collaborative book published in 2023 - Enhanced Parliamentary Oversight: Promoting Good Governance in Smaller States - sheds light on how legislative oversight is practiced in small jurisdictions around the world. Much of CAAF’s guidance for effective public accounts committees (PACs) considers the different challenges and constraints that legislatures face. This book provides an in depth look at the challenges and solutions in small jurisdictions.

Here, we look at a few of the challenges PACs in small jurisdictions face and share some of the ways they are addressed by jurisdictions covered in the book.

Good Practices to Strengthen Municipal Audit Committees for Municipalities with an Auditor General
by Lesley Burns & James Oulton

These good practices will help your audit committee carry out its oversight responsibilities and provide value to your city residents.

The PAC Perspective – Insights from Our Recent Survey of Public Accounts Committee Members and Clerks
by James Oulton

To better understand how effective PACs in Canada are, we carried out two surveys in 2018 of PAC clerks and members in all 14 federal/provincial/territorial jurisdictions. This article shares some preliminary results from those surveys, which we hope will spur discussion on how PACs can take further steps to become more effective in a few key areas.