Archived Webinars

Our webinars provide timely analysis and expert advice on issues that matter the most to public sector auditors.

Past Webinars:

Webinar – AI Insights for Auditors

AI is everywhere – and CAAF can help. Learn about emerging AI technologies, the possibilities, and the potential to adopt AI in audits and to audit the use of AI.

SPEAKERS

Jason Lee is a partner for MNP Digital. MNP is a business advisory that advises on digital platforms, applied data and AI, intelligent applications, cyber security and privacy, among other areas. Jason has more than two decades of experience in technology and innovation labs, working with clients in both the private and public (provincial and municipal) sectors. He is experienced in 3D integration, cloud, gaming, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence / machine learning, and data.

Vishen Maharaj is the Director of AI and Machine Learning at MNP. With over 20 years of experience in both public and private sectors, he combines business acumen with cutting-edge technology to lead high-performing technical teams and deliver solutions. He has experience in public-private partnerships, predictive & prescriptive analytics, machine learning and computer simulations.

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Sustainability and ESG Reporting with Elsa Da Costa - October 15

Curious about sustainability and ESG reporting in Canada, and the new auditing standards? Want to take a dive into climate-related disclosures? What does all this mean for government reporting and auditing?

Join us on Wednesday, October 15 from 2 pm to 3 pm ET for a webinar on sustainability and ESG, featuring Elsa Da Costa from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. Elsa has 20 years of experience in environment and sustainable development, including 9 years of audits for the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development at OAG Canada. She was the director on the recent audit of the 2024 Net-Zero Accountabilities Audit. Elsa has also been active in the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Audit and is part of the IPSASB Sustainability Implementation Forum on the proposed Climate-related Disclosures standard (IPSASB SRS ED 1).

SPEAKER

Elsa Da Costa is an experienced leader with extensive expertise in measuring and reporting performance outcomes for environmental and climate change projects, programs, and policies. She has worked in both the public sector and private consulting, collaborating with a range of national and international organizations. As an evaluator and auditor, Elsa has a strong interest in supporting organizations on their ESG reporting journey, helping them navigate emerging standards and best practices.

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Understanding Accessibility in Canada with Max Brault - September 25

SPEAKER

Max is an accessibility consultant and disability activist. He is lead of Nīewe’s Accessibility Consulting Service, is President/CEO of Accommodation Councillors of Canada Network (Accnet), and CEO of The Max Brault SMA Foundation. As a senior federal civil servant, he organized and facilitated the Persons with Disabilities Champions and Chairs Committee (PwDCCC) and was instrumental in creating the Accessible Canada Act.

Max was instrumental in creating the Accessible Canada Act. His new book "The Race to the Starting Line" tells the story of the Act, passed in 2019, which aims to create a barrier-free Canada by 2040 by addressing barriers in employment, infrastructure, and communication. For auditors examining progress on governments' accessibility commitments, this event is a must.

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Performance audit in a challenging context – Our project with the Ecuador National Audit Office – June 19, 2025 | English and Spanish only

SPEAKERS

Daniel Crespo Pazmiño and Juan Alberto Toro from the Ecuador National Audit Office, and Roberto Angulo and Sharon Clark

Imagine you only had 90 days to do a performance audit, if your office could then suspend the salaries of those responsible for managing programs - and if resistance to your audits was posted on social media. How would all this affect your ability to deliver high-quality performance audits?

Come learn about our work to strengthen performance audit capacity in Ecuador, a fascinating country where social issues, human rights protests, and environmental concerns are on the rise.

This CAAF project is funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented in partnership with Alinea International.

Featuring Daniel Crespo Pazmiño and Juan Alberto Toro from the Ecuador National Audit Office, and Roberto Angulo and Sharon Clark from the CAAF team.

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Certifying Performance Auditors: Achieving Recognition in a Changing World – May 21, 2025

SPEAKER

Yves Genest
Vice-President, Research and Strategic Initiatives, Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

Yves Genest is Vice-President, Research and Strategic Initiatives at the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF). Mr. Genest is responsible for the development of projects requiring the expertise and knowledge of CAAF in performance measurement and auditing in partnership with various stakeholders.

Mr. Genest is an experienced audit professional, who audited a vast array of organizations in the Federal government over the past thirty years. He started his career at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada where he occupied various positions for over fifteen years, including Principal, Practice Development.

Prior to joining CAAF, he served as Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive at Shared Services Canada, and as Director General, Audit Directorate, at the Public Service Commission of Canada.

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Why Do Cost Overruns Happen? It’s All About Risk! – April 23, 2025

Cost overruns plague large projects, often stemming from a lack of clarity and transparency surrounding project risks.

In this informative session, you will gain insights into the root causes of cost overruns post-contract award and learn effective strategies to mitigate them. Learn how to quantify and categorize risks as retained, shared, and transferred to make informed decisions and ensure project viability. Auditors will benefit from enhanced risk assessment capabilities to anticipate and address uncertainties and the capacity to identify potential lines of enquiries and identify root causes to generate useful recommendations.

Don't miss this opportunity to equip yourself with the tools and knowledge to understand project complexities and assess successful outcomes.

We will present an overview of the skills required to acquire the information so crucial to executing influential and meaningful audits, such as big data and data analysis, sampling, text analysis and many others.

SPEAKER

Yves Genest
Vice-President, Research and Strategic Initiatives, Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

Prior to joining CAAF, he served as Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive at Shared Services Canada, and as Director General, Audit Directorate, at the Public Service Commission of Canada.

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Double Duty: Auditors as Ethical Role Models and Guardians – March 26, 2025

Double Duty: Auditors as Ethical Role Models and Guardians / Double vocation: les auditeurs en tant que modèles d'éthique et gardiens.
Auditors have a dual relationship with ethics, serving as both practitioners and guardians. On one hand, they must adhere to a strict professional code of ethics, ensuring independence, objectivity, integrity, and confidentiality in their work. On the other hand, they act as watchdogs, evaluating and ensuring organizational compliance with ethical standards, codes of conduct, and legal requirements regulating fraud, ethical breaches, misappropriation of funds and corruption. This dual role positions auditors as ethical role models while holding organizations accountable for ethical behavior. By balancing these responsibilities, auditors play a critical role in fostering trust, transparency, and accountability, ultimately contributing to the integrity and sustainability of organizations and the broader business environment.

This webinar will explore this dual role by examining auditor’s codes of ethics as well as audit topics and strategies that are relevant in today’s organizational risk landscape through case studies of actual audits that have wrestled with ethical and legal issues, either tangentially or directly.

SPEAKER

Yves Genest
Vice-President, Research and Strategic Initiatives, Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

Prior to joining CAAF, he served as Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive at Shared Services Canada, and as Director General, Audit Directorate, at the Public Service Commission of Canada.

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Ensuring the Quality of Your Audit to Make a Difference: Evidence Collection and Analysis – December 4, 2024

This webinar will focus on the importance of a robust approach to evidence gathering and analysis to ensure the integrity of the audit process. With new approaches and technologies, this process has become more complicated than ever. Auditors must acquire and apply the knowledge and skills needed to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence, and to analyze the evidence to support audit conclusions.

SPEAKER

Yves Genest
Vice-President, Research and Strategic Initiatives, Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

Prior to joining CAAF, he served as Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive at Shared Services Canada, and as Director General, Audit Directorate, at the Public Service Commission of Canada.

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Can ChatGPT Write Your Next Audit Report? – November 13, 2024

ChatGPT and similar generative AI have changed the search engine landscape radically. Everybody was surprised by their ability to generate valuable content instantly and effortlessly. They have found countless applications in a myriad of fields, increasing by many orders of magnitude the productivity and agility of their users. The audit profession is one of them.

In this presentation, Yves Genest our Vice-President, Research and Strategic Initiatives will provide an overview of the potential utilizations of ChatGPT by auditors, including the risks and benefits of this exciting and intriguing new technology.

SPEAKER

Yves Genest
Vice-President, Research and Strategic Initiatives, Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

Prior to joining CAAF, he served as Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive at Shared Services Canada, and as Director General, Audit Directorate, at the Public Service Commission of Canada.

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Ensuring That Your Audit Will Make a Difference: Evidence Collection and Analysis – October 9, 2024 | French Only

SPEAKER

Pauline Blais
Certified Professional Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Fraud Examiner

Ms. Blais has over 30 years of experience in management consulting and external and internal auditing. She has worked for the Office of the Auditor General of Canada on financial and performance audit engagements. She has extensive international experience assessing the risks of public financial systems in developing countries. During her career, Ms. Blais has trained internal auditors in Ottawa, Quebec City and Montreal for the Institute of Internal Auditors, Treasury Board and the School of Public Service. Ms. Blais has also designed and delivered specialized audit training for various federal organizations, including the Public Service Commission and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. She has designed and delivered training for development officers responsible for managing and overseeing large contribution programs for Global Affairs Canada. Her expertise also includes the design of monitoring systems for financial internal controls, asset management, procurement and contracting, values and ethics. Pauline also inspects internal audit functions and provides quality assurance services to federal government organizations. Pauline has the advantage of having conducted several performance audits and provided coaching sessions to several junior auditors. She will therefore be able to add real-life experiences and fun facts to this educational training.

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Moving Beyond The Failure of List-Based Risk Management: The Emergence of Objective-Centric Risk and Uncertainty Management – September 25, 2024

This webinar will focus on four significant change drivers that support implementation of a new form of governance, of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), and of internal audit: Objective Centric Risk and Uncertainty Management.

Objective-Centric Risk and Uncertainty Management integrates risk considerations into the overall strategic planning and decision-making processes, aligning risk management activities closely with the organization's mission and vision. This approach aims to enhance the organization's ability to proactively address challenges and uncertainties in pursuit of its objectives while optimizing the allocation of resources. ERM solely based on building risk lists does not accomplish that goal.

SPEAKER

Tim Leech Tim J. Leech, FCPA, FCA
Founder and CEO, Risk Oversight Solutions

Tim is founder and CEO at Risk Oversight Solutions. His focus for the past 30 years has been promoting the business case for, and helping organizations implement, strong management driven objective centric risk and uncertainty management. He has received awards for outstanding contributions from CPA Ontario, IIA, ACFE and OCEG. His work in the field of strategy and risk governance has been recognized by articles published by Harvard and Columbia Universities, London School of Economics, the IIA, Conference Board, and many others. In December 2019 Richard Chambers named Tim to his list of the top 10 internal audit and risk thought leaders of the decade globally.

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Diving Deeper into Root Cause Analysis, Systems Thinking and Culture – June 12, 2024

This webinar aims to pinpoint why risks can ’slip through our fingers’ despite often making considerable efforts to ensure things don't go off track. It also considers why we sometimes see the same, or similar, issues repeating over and over again. The discussion will go beyond commonly used explanations of ‘people’ and ‘culture,’ to explore ‘human factors’ which affect, and are affected by, organisational, systemic and contextual factors. Mr. Paterson’s presentation will be based on research conducted for his new book ‘Beyond the Five Whys: Root cause analysis and systems thinking,’ with the aim of highlighting the sort of mindset needed to see beyond symptoms towards underlying causes. The crucial message being that unless we can explain reasons WHY we have not reached the right level of understanding.

SPEAKER

James Paterson
Director, Risk and Assurance Insights

James started his career in tax and finance and became Head of Group Financial Reporting for AstraZeneca PLC as it was formed. He obtained a master’s degree in management at McGill University, Montreal and was seconded to HR to be head of Global Leadership Development programmes. After that he was AstraZeneca’s Chief Audit Executive for 7 years.

He set up a consulting business in 2010 providing training, development and coaching in the following principal areas:

Root Cause Analysis/ Auditing Culture,
Risk Assurance mapping and co-ordination,
Lean/Agile Auditing,
Influencing and Political Savvy.

He has chaired several European Union Internal Audit conferences, as well as others in the UK and Ireland and been a speaker at 4 IIA International Conferences, most recently on the topic of Root Cause Analysis.

He is the author of “Lean Auditing” as well as “Beyond the Five Whys: Root Cause Analysis and systems thinking”, both published by Wiley.

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Benefits and Risks of Citizen Engagement in the Audit Process – May 15, 2024

Audit offices are increasingly finding ways to engage their citizens and other stakeholders to better hold governments accountable and facilitate change. Engaging more broadly presents a valuable opportunity for audit offices and, in this session, we will discuss the benefits of broader engagement as well as cover some of the risks involved. We will also discuss some types and levels of participation as well as how your reporting can promote engagement by using examples from different audit offices, and we will suggest strategies that can enhance your citizen engagement in the short term.

SPEAKER

Annie Lecompte Gordon Ruth, FCPA, FCGA
CAAF Associate

Gordon Ruth was British Columbia’s Auditor General for Local Government and was previously the Executive Vice President of Certification and Operations for the Chartered Professional Accountants of BC and the Chief Executive Officer for the Certified General Accountants of BC. He has held several positions in the public sector, ranging from the federal government to BC Hydro. He spent several years in local government with Metro Vancouver as their Chief Financial Officer. Currently he is the Chair of the Auditor General’s Advisory Committee at the City of Vancouver.

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Ethics and Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities for the Auditing Profession in the Digital Age – April 17, 2024 | French Only

This presentation explores the links between ethics, technology and accounting during major upheavals, analyzing the responses of key players in the field to ethical challenges and technological opportunities. This exploration will lead us to discuss the implications for auditing in the public sector, as well as the importance of rethinking the design and use of accounting technologies to maintain trust in the profession.

This presentation aims to open a reflection on how, in the digital age, the audit profession can evolve to meet these ethical challenges while seizing the opportunities offered by technological innovation.

SPEAKER

Annie Lecompte, Ph.D. CPA auditor, CFE, CFF
Associate Professor, Department of Accounting Sciences, ESG-UQÀM

A specialist in fraud prevention and detection, ethics and governance, Annie is passionate about the ethical issues that affect the accounting field, especially auditors. She teaches business ethics and assurance, and is actively involved in the community through various media interventions aimed at democratizing these concepts. She holds a doctorate from HEC Montréal, and has nearly 20 years' experience in auditing, including in the public sector.

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Women Looking for Safe Spaces: Auditing BC Housing’s COVID-19 Response – March 8, 2024

Content advisory: This presentation will touch on the issue of violence against women and children, please take care when listening.

On International Women’s Day 2024, we celebrate the theme of “Invest in women: Accelerate progress.” For auditors, this serves as a call to ensure that a gender lens is used in audit topic selection and analysis. Join us and our guest speaker from the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia as we explore BC’s response to providing additional safe housing to women and children in unstable or violent situations during the COVID 19 pandemic, a time when most global gender equality indicators regressed.

For many women and children living in unstable or violent situations, home is not a safe place. Transition housing provides safety and support, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, many providers had to reduce their capacity to enable physical distancing and help keep residents safe. In response, BC Housing leased additional safe spaces in hotels across the province. This presentation will focus on OAG BC’s 2022 audit, BC Housing’s COVID-19 Response: Additional Safe Spaces for Women and Children Leaving Violence, which sought to determine whether BC Housing effectively managed the provision of additional safe spaces for women and children leaving violent or unstable situations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SPEAKER

Janice Dowson, Performance Audit Manager
Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia

Janice Dowson is a performance audit manager at the Office of the Auditor General of BC (OAG BC). She joined OAG BC in September 2020, and has worked on audits related to human resources, internet connectivity, domestic violence, and environmental monitoring. Prior to joining OAG BC, Janice spent time in academia where she studied the role of independent institutions in supporting democracy and human rights in states transitioning to democracy from authoritarian rule. She holds a B.A. in political science from Dalhousie University and an M.A. in political science from the University of Victoria. In her free time, she enjoys spending time in the beautiful Vancouver Island nature with her partner and their two kids.

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Auditing Values and Ethics: Insights and Lessons Learned – January 16, 2024

Values and Ethics are now considered to be intricately connected with the performance of organizations.

RCMP Internal Audit conducted an Audit of Values and Ethics in 2018-19. An overview of the audit’s methodology, findings, recommendations, and client engagement approach will be presented. The presentation will also focus on the audit team’s lessons learned and will provide insights for future audit teams to consider in carrying out an audit on a topic as important as this one.

SPEAKER

Danielle Allaire, Audit Manager
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Danielle Allaire is an Audit Manager at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). She joined the Federal Public Service in 2002 as part of the Treasury Board Secretariat’s (TBS) Economist Development Program, and after a few years as a Program Sector analyst at TBS, found her true calling in Internal Audit. Danielle manages a broad range of operational audits, including the Audit of Values and Ethics, and also provides advisory services in the areas of governance, risk management and control, leveraging her 17 years of experience with the RCMP. Danielle has a B.Soc.Sci (Hon) from the University of Ottawa and an MA from Dalhousie University. She is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Government Auditing Professional (CGAP) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

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How Will ESG Impact Your Audits? – November 28, 2023

An Overview of the Challenges and Opportunities Offered by ESG Reporting

Growing awareness of climate change, human capital and corporate governance issues have imposed the necessity of introducing environmental, social and corporate governance performance indicators (ESG) in private and public organisations annual reports. Auditors have a unique opportunity to leverage their current expertise to help navigate this landscape while enhancing the credibility of information for other stakeholders. Sarah Marsh will provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities offered by ESG reporting.

SPEAKER

Sarah Marsh
Partner, National ESG Report and Assurance Leader
PwC Canada

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Plain Language Webinar – May 9, 2023 | French Only
This webinar recording is in French only.

Are your reports read and understood?

You write audit reports, but have you ever wondered if they are read and understood?

Today, the majority of people focus only on the information that catches their attention. As a result, most documents, such as reports and summaries, are read quickly and diagonally.

Too often, the people who write these documents overestimate the reading skills of their target audience. Their documents contain a lot of detail or neglect to explain certain elements, use complex words and are visually overloaded. As a result, readers miss a lot of information or misunderstand it.

In order to communicate information clearly, our materials must be adapted to meet the needs oftoday's readers and a targeted audience.

In this one-hour webinar, we'll introduce you to an approach you can take to write reports that are easy to read, understand, and use: plain language.

Plain language is an internationally used approach. It aims to produce documents that are easy to read and understood effortlessly from the first reading. ISO standards will be published this year to standardize the use of simple language around the world and in all languages.

In this webinar, we will:
- Demonstrate how plain language can help you write accessible and easy-to-use audit reports.
- Introduce the plain language training offered by CAAF.
In addition, you will meet Chantale Audet and Amélie Bourret who deliver this training.

SPEAKERS

Chantale Audet
Partner – Autrement dit

Amélie Bourret
Partner – Autrement dit

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Fast & Furious: AI Accelerated Audits – April 18, 2023

Governments, retailers and manufacturers annually lose up to 5% of their vendor spending to overpayment errors. Performance and cost recovery auditors take between 12-18 months to find those errors, as the documentation required to verify these errors is found in legal agreements, emails and PDFs spread across the organization. Using a unique approach, John Craig from Vigilant AI (www.vigilant-ai.com) will share how they have successfully solved this problem for their customers, allowing analysts to consolidate, review and analyze 100% of the available documentation to find overpayments before the books get closed.

SPEAKER

John Craig
Co-founder and CEO of Vigilant AI

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Public Participation in VGQ Audits: An Overview of the Tools for Collecting Contributions and Denunciations – March 14, 2023 | French Only
This webinar recording is in French only.

The VGQ is anxious to listen to citizens' concerns about the machinery of government in order to better guide its work. It wishes to involve citizens by asking them to inform it of situations that appear questionable or contrary to policies and directives within the entities included in its areas of jurisdiction. In addition, citizens can now contribute more to its work by sharing information related to ongoing audits.
- Brief history
- Background
- How the tool works
- Demonstration
- Statistics
SPEAKER

Jean-Louis Mbadinga, D.E.A, M.Sc., MAP
Conseiller - Direction du soutien aux opérations en audit de performance

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Gender-Based Analysis Plus – Why GBA Plus is so much more than a check box exercise – March 8, 2023

Gender equality and diversity continue to be priorities for the Federal government and the capacity to apply GBA Plus is an important part of identifying and reducing existing and potential inequalities based on gender and other intersecting identity factors.

The Government should know whether the commitments it made in 1995 to implement gender-based analysis and in 2011 to implement GBA Plus have been achieved. And yet, after more than 10 years, some departments have not yet implemented a framework – the most basic element for implementation.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, join us to learn more about the OAG’s recent audit on GBA Plus and what it could mean for program and service delivery in an increasingly diverse Canadian society.

SPEAKER

Carey Agnew
Principal, Office of the Auditor General of Canada

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Member Exclusive Event: Audit on Worker Health and Safety from B.C Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation – February 16, 2023

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

In April 2022, the B.C. Mine Audits Unit released the audit, “Worker Protection in Mobile Equipment Near Water.” Prompted by previous incidents at B.C. mines, this audit examined existing regulatory requirements and actions by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation related to protecting workers operating mobile equipment near water. The audit generated three recommendations, all of which have been accepted by the Ministry.

SPEAKER

Blythe Golobic, Acting Director of Mine Audits

Blythe is a professional mining engineer who has worked at mine operations in Nunavut and B.C.’s interior. Blythe joined the Ministry as an Inspector of Mines in 2016. She was the Ministry’s lead for autonomy and automation before joining the Mine Audits Unit.

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Far from Business as Usual: The Evolving Risk Landscape in 2023 – February 14, 2023

Richard Arthurs will explore the following, with real life stories and insight, and will speak on leading practices within the Internal Audit profession in Canada and internationally.

After two full years of COVID-19 dominating the global risk cycle, Canadian organizations finally started to see a light at the end of the tunnel in 2022. Consumer habits began a steady return to pre-pandemic levels and many team members started coming back to the office as public safety measures eased through the spring. But the celebratory atmosphere has been short-lived, with several new and ongoing challenges casting a shadow over those silver linings.

The most significant issue of 2022 has been Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflict’s effects on already fragile supply chains, energy and agriculture sectors. Inflation spiked to 40-year highs, with increased demand pressures from the war, sanctions, and economies re-opening — forcing central banks to raise interest rates to the highest levels since before the 2008 financial crisis.

Canada’s new commitment to achieve net-zero by 2050 and the release of proposed sustainability reporting standards have stepped up the pressure on environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. And even with fears of a looming economic downturn, organizations continue to struggle with the tightest labour market in a generation — not to mention adapting to a hybrid workforce model.

The risk landscape in 2023 certainly feels different. But the perils and opportunities remain as significant as ever. As internal audit teams begin planning for the year ahead, they will be wise to keep front of mind the 19 risk trends that will be presented.

SPEAKER

Richard Arthurs, FCPA, FCMA, MBA, CIA, CRMA, CFE, QIAL
Partner, Enterprise Risk Services and MNP’s National Internal Audit Services Leader

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Addressing the Challenges of Auditing in a Post-Pandemic World – January 24, 2023

CAAF's 2022-2023 Emerging Leaders present solutions to challenges facing today’s audit community.

Post-Pandemic: The new ‘business as usual’
	SPEAKERS Left to right: Greg Morhart – OAG British Columbia Stephanie Cross – OAG Newfoundland Ian Murray – OAG Canada Audrey Bergeron – Vérificateur Général du Québec Angela Provoe – OAG Nova Scotia
Demonstrating relevance in the digital age
	SPEAKERS Left to right: Amanda Griffiths – OAG Newfoundland Tim Cook – OAG Prince Edward Island Karel Canterbury – OAG Guyana Dan McCullough – OAG New Brunswick Julie Paquette – OAG Canada Adam Dias – OAG Western Australia
Early intervention on major projects
	SPEAKERS Left to right: Nanditha Murugeshan – OAG Manitoba Medesse Akanni – OAG Canada Tommy Chung – OAG British Columbia Miriam Ritchie – OAG Western Australia Marie-Hélène Boily – Vérificateur Général du Québec
Faster, responsive, impactful audits without compromise
	SPEAKERS Left to right: Shondell Y. Thomas – OAG Guyana Amy Mix – OAG New Brunswick Marc-Antoine Guenette – Canada Revenue Agency Sarah Reynolds – OAG Newfoundland Ashley Maxwell – OAG Halifax Regional Municipality Stacey O’Malley – OAG Canada

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Guylaine Leclerc, Auditor General of Quebec, talks about her Fall 2022 Audits – December 15, 2022 | French Only

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series. This webinar recording is in French only.

Guylaine Leclerc, Auditor General of Quebec talks about her Fall 2022 audits on:

Family allowance: Supplements for handicapped children
Contract management
Asset Management in the electricity distribution network

SPEAKER

Guylaine-Leclerc Ms. Leclerc, is recognized as a leader and a visionary within the accounting profession. In the early 2000s, she founded the largest independent firm specializing in forensic accounting in Quebec, which later merged with a large company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2007. Ms. Leclerc was one of the founding members of the Alliance for Excellence in Forensic Accounting, an organization created by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. She has also given presentations on control, audit, fraud and corruption in Canada and in other French-speaking countries. Since April 2022, Ms. Leclerc has been a member of the Accounting Standards Oversight Council (ASOC). Ms. Leclerc received the title of Fellow of the Order of Chartered Professional Accountants of Quebec in 2004 and Laval University’s Gloire de l'Escolle medal in 2013.

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Member Exclusive Event: The Impact of CAAF’s International Program – November 17, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

Learn about the impact of CAAF's work with Guyana, Rwanda, Sénégal and Vietnam through its international program funded by Global Affairs Canada. Find out how Canadian audit offices have been (and can be!) involved in helping improve accountability and governance abroad.

SPEAKER

Caroline Jorgensen, Vice-President, International Programs, Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

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Member Exclusive Event: OAG Canada’s “Just Transition and Carbon Pricing” Audits – October 20, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

Elsa Da Costa speaks about her recent audits of Carbon Pricing and the “Just Transition” to a low carbon economy and the move away from coal. The two audits looked at the federal government’s early work to implement these two initiatives.

SPEAKER

Elsa Da Costa, Director, Performance Audit & The Environment & Sustainable Development Commissioner at Office of the Auditor General of Canada

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Member Exclusive Event: Advisory Services and the Internal Audit Mix – Challenges and Opportunities – September 15, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

SPEAKER

Joanne Butler, Chief Audit Executive at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, on how Internal Audit shops can successfully add advisory services to the mix, while navigating a tricky landscape.

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60 Days to Shorter Audit Reports – September 13, 2022
Learn how to write short audit reports that are clear, concise and persuasive, that add real value to your organization, and that cut out all unnecessary content - taking the pain out of the review process and instilling ownership and accountability in your team.?
- Adopting the right mindset to issue short audit reports
- How your stakeholders drive structure and concise content
- The 60-day roadmap to issuing short(er) audit reports
SPEAKER

Tracie Marquardt

Tracie is the leading global audit communication specialist, empowering international Internal Audit executives and their teams to become more effective in their global communication. She is passionate about inspiring audit professionals to be more, do more and create more through positive communication. Her strategic approach addresses the heart of audit’s challenges: to derive and communicate results that add more value to stakeholders, positively impacting the organization’s productivity and profitability. She is a CPA and Deloitte alumna with a degree in Chartered Accountancy from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

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“Beneficial Ownership” – What is it? Why does it matter to auditors? – June 14, 2022

“Beneficial Ownership” – What is it? Why does it matter? What’s happening in Canada? What can I do as an auditor?

On June 14th, CAAF hosted a panel of experts who answered these questions.

Simply, the beneficial owner is the real person that ultimately owns, controls or benefits from a company and its transactions. Having complete and accurate beneficial ownership information is used to prevent money laundering and other criminal activity. This global issue poses threats to our reputation, to international security, and our national and international economy. Governments around the globe, including across Canada, are introducing new systems to track beneficial ownership.

Learn more about this important topic – start by signing up for this informative webinar:

SPEAKERS

	Carol Bellringer President and CEO Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation
	Scott Hanson Director, Public Policy & Regulation International Federation of Accountants
	Michele Wood-Tweel Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs CPA Canada

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Member Exclusive Event: Auditing the Implementation of the Accessible Canada Act – May 19, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

A big part of diversity and inclusion involves improving accessibility for people with disabilities – more than 16% of the population. The Accessible Canada Act was passed in 2019 and includes provisions to identify, remove and prevent barriers to accessibility.

Find out how you can examine and audit this critical issue.

SPEAKER

Max Brault leads consulting on accessibility for BDO Canada. His vision is to build community by showing the world that Canadians with disabilities contribute to society. A person with a disability and a bilingual legislation and policy leader with almost 20 years of experience focused on employment equity and the advancement of workplace accessibility, Brault helped to guide the federal government toward progressive accessibility legislation. He was awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and has represented persons with disabilities at the UN convention on accessibility.

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Member Exclusive Event: Audits of Homelessness, Housing, Gender-Based Violence, and the Pandemic – April 21, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

During the pandemic, the BC government purchased properties to provide temporary housing to people experiencing homelessness, and to women and children living in unstable or violent situations. OAG BC examined the purchase of hotels and other properties and the government’s efforts to provide safe spaces for women and children leaving violence during COVID-19. Join us to learn about the challenges the audit team faced in examining this topic, and their findings.

SPEAKER

Amy Hart is an Executive Director of Performance Audit at the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia. Suzanne Smith and Daria Babaie were the managers responsible for these audits.

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Robotics Process Automation (RPA): What does it mean for audit? – April 19, 2022

This session will include the following topics:

What is RPA really? How does it apply to internal and performance audit?
Criteria for automating an audit process
Discuss the 3 main forms of automation and the pros and cons of each for auditors
Live demonstrations of each approach
Implementation considerations when automating
Quick-start plan to get started with RPA

SPEAKER

Paul Pilon Jeff Sorensen
Industry Lead, CaseWare IDEA

Over his 25 years’ of experience, Jeff has earned various certifications and designations in information technology, auditing and security from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association(ISACA), the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and CaseWare IDEA. He is frequently invited to international conferences and panels to share his expertise as a guest presenter. Jeff started with CaseWare as a certified instructor, then joined CaseWare in 2016 as a Product Manager before becoming an Industry Strategist. Prior to joining CaseWare, Jeff worked in a variety of industries incl. finance, energy and government where he held various positions in auditing, project management, systems development and IT security.

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Member Exclusive Event: Diversity, Inclusion and Audits – March 24, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

Find out how your audits can examine an organization’s performance against diversity and inclusion commitments. Paule-Anny Pierre will join us to discuss the D&I context and challenges in government. How effective are government tools to enhance diversity? What is done with the data that is collected? Are commitments supported by plans and targets?

SPEAKER

Paule-Anny Pierre
Assistant Auditor General, Strategic Planning and Governance, Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Before joining OAG Canada, Paule-Anny was Assistant Deputy Minister and Executive Director of the Centre on Diversity and Inclusion at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. She was the Chief Audit Executive of Environment and Climate Change Canada

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Purposeful Sampling: Obtaining Robust Audit Findings – March 22, 2022

Purposeful sampling has always been an important performance auditing tool. Intuitively, auditors are aware of the power of individual cases to shed light on systemic issues and provide insight into causal factors. As recently as the early 2000’s, there was limited formal or detailed guidance on the many ways this type of sampling could be leveraged. CAAF has published a guide attempting to introduce greater standardization based on the exploration of how various forms of purposeful sampling methods have been reliably used.

This webinar will clarify the theory underlying purposeful sampling, provide practical examples of the options available to auditors, how they played out in real performance audits and review tools and good practices for collecting evidence with this method and reporting findings derived from that kind of sampling.

SPEAKER

Paul Pilon
Statistical expert, consultant, and co-author of CAAF’s practice guide on
Sampling Methodology for Performance Audit

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Member Exclusive Event: COVID Costing and an Alternative Federal Budget – February 15, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

David Macdonald will be speaking about how the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' “Alternative Federal Budget” addresses the challenges of the Pandemic and proposes a path for a just and equitable recovery. This project is a collaboration among organizations and researchers from a variety of sectors, populations, and areas of expertise including human rights, labour, environmental protection, anti-poverty, arts and culture, social development, child development, international development, women, Indigenous peoples, the faith-based community, students, teachers, education, and health care workers.

SPEAKER

David Macdonald
Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

David has been a long time contributor to the CCPA as a research associate and has written on a variety of topics, from child care to income inequality to federal fiscal policy. He is a regular media commentator on national policy issues, often speaking to the CBC, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Canadian Press.

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Auditing in Municipalities: The Role of City Councillors and the Oversight of Audit – February 15, 2022 | French Only

This webinar recording is in French only.

Municipalities face increasing financial challenges and expectations to provide effective oversight. Audited financial statements and performance audit reports are key elements of effective oversight for municipal councils. Some municipalities have put an audit committee in place to examine these important sources of oversight information in more depth.

This webinar, focusing on the municipal environment in Quebec, will provide a stimulating discussion on issues facing councillors, audit committee members, auditors, and city managers. In this webinar, you will learn about:

The role of council (the audit committee where one is in place), particularly in relation to financial statement audit and performance audit reports;
The role of auditors, their varied mandates, and their expectations regarding city council;
The role of city management concerning the auditor and in support of city council;
Key factors that can support effective oversight by city council;
and The benefit of implementing an audit committee and lessons learned.

PANELISTS

	Sandra Desmeules, Msc, CRHA City councillor, member of the executive committee, audit committee member, City of Laval		Serge Lamontagne, MBA, ASC Executive Director City of Montréal
	Vicky Lizotte, FCPA auditrice, FCA Assistant Deputy Minister for Administration Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing of Quebec (previously Vice-president of the Commission Municipale du Québec)

MODERATORS

Sharon Clark

Sharon Clark, MBA
Vice-President, Professional Development
Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

Yves Gauthier

Yves Gauthier, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D
Member of boards and audit committees
CAAF Associate

Click here to access the presentation slides in PDF.

Access our Good Practices to Strengthen Municipal Audit Committees for Municipalities with an Auditor General publication

Engaging Civil Society in Audits: Collaboration for Greater Impact – January 25, 2022

This webinar will be offered in English. Simultaneous translation will be available in French.

Audit offices have shown a growing interest in interacting with citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) and several are using innovative strategies to engage them in their audit work, as we saw in our recent international survey. When audit offices and CSOs collaborate, they can both benefit and together they can make a greater impact for citizens.

In this webinar, learn about the benefits of collaboration, the roles CSOs can play throughout the audit process, and successful engagement methods used by audit offices. Our guest speakers will present their experiences and discuss good practices and common challenges for collaboration.

For more on this topic, see our Collaborating for Change series, which provides CSOs with information, strategies, and tools to effectively engage with audit offices. It can also be helpful for audit offices that are looking to collaborate with CSOs and other stakeholders.

GUEST SPEAKERS

	Claire Schouten Senior Program Officer Internatonal Budget Partnership
	Jeanette A. Calder Executive Director Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal
	Ayagiba Lawrence Ndaago Deputy Auditor General Ghana Audit Service

Click here to view French webinar archive

Member Exclusive Event: Vaccine and SDG Audits – January 20, 2022

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

Join us and meet Leeanne McAviney and Jason Hewett from the Office of the Auditor-General of New Zealand who will discuss recent audits of vaccine rollout and SDG progress

SPEAKER

Leeanne McAviney
Assistant Auditor‑General, Sector Performance
Office of the Auditor‑General of New Zealand

Leeanne leads the New Zealand Office of the Auditor‑General Sector Performance Group. Leanne has been leading audits of the rollout of the COVID‑19 vaccine in New Zealand.

Jason Hewett
Performance Audit Manager
Office of the Auditor-General of New Zealand

Jason recently tabled an audit on the New Zealand Government’s preparedness to implement the sustainable development goals. See the full report here: https://oag.parliament.nz/2021/sdgs

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Auditing Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) in Canada – December 7, 2021

SPEAKER

Carol Bellringer
President and CEO, Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation

A public-private partnership (P3) is an alternative approach to designing, building, financing and/or maintaining public assets. P3s come in a variety of arrangements across Canada, with recent estimates of close to 300 active P3 projects with a $140 billion market value. There are noted incentives – including risk transfer, innovation, on-time and on-budget performance. There are also noted drawbacks – including the cost of private financing, complexity, and risks that politics or ideology cloud the picture. The presentation will describe the common types of P3s in Canada and explore the incentives and drawbacks.

Legislative auditors across Canada have conducted performance audits of P3s and Canadian accounting standards will introduce new reporting requirements effective April 1, 2023. The presentation will include several examples of these performance audits and a summary of the new accounting changes.

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Member Exclusive Event: Michael Wernick on Pandemic Response, Hindsight Bias & Resilience Audits – November 18, 2021

This event is part of our monthly member exclusive roundtable series.

SPEAKER

Michael Wernick
Senior Strategic Advisor, MNP

Michael Wernick served as Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to Cabinet from 2016 to 2019. His 28-year public service career included the positions of Deputy Clerk and Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. Mr. Wernick is currently a senior strategic advisor to MNP and a fellow and adjunct professor of the Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration. He is the author of the new book Governing Canada - A Guide to the Tradecraft of Politics.

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