Account ability is the ongoing title of our annual performance reports to Parliament. Our second annual report builds on last year's foundation, demonstrating the CCRA's commitment to be clear and transparent in reporting to Canadians about the results we are achieving. It forms the basis for taking stock of our progress midway through our first five years as an agency, and explains how, as a learning organization, we are building on our knowledge and experience to provide high-quality services to Canadians at affordable costs.

Account ability is a permanent record of the dollars we have spent and the results we have achieved in working to fulfil our mission and meet the strategic change agenda set out in our 2001-2002 to 2003-2004 Corporate Business Plan, the companion document to this Annual Report. This first volume provides both a high-level, agency-wide overview of our program delivery results, and more detailed summaries of our performance in each of our five business lines. (A more comprehensive discussion of our performance by business line is available on-line at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/agency/annual/menu-e.html ) The second volume of this report, CCRA Financial Statements, provides the financial information for our operations and responsibilities in 2001-2002.

The CCRA's expected outcomes

Within the context of our mission and strategic direction, we have identified two strategic outcomes that represent the ultimate results we are seeking as an organization: Compliance – that Canadians comply with tax, trade, and border legislation; and Innovation – that the CCRA is a leading-edge service organization. These two strategic outcomes are supported by six intermediate-level outcomes that have a clear impact on Canadians. Each of our business lines contributes to one or more of these outcomes:

1. Canadians pay their fair share of taxes and the tax base is protected.

2. Canadians receive their rightful share of entitlements.

3. Canadians' health, safety, security, and business interests are protected, and Canada's economic growth is supported, through responsible border and trade management.

4. Canadians receive an impartial and timely review of contested decisions through our redress system.

5. Provinces/territories and other government departments rely on the CCRA as a key service provider.

6. Performance of our business services and operations is maximized through modern and innovative management approaches.

Of these six intermediate outcomes, the last two fall within our innovation agenda, which is the subject of a multi-year plan we are in the midst of implementing, and which has been refined since we first became an agency. Our innovation agenda includes four change objectives, further elaborated in our 2001-2002 to 2003-2004 Corporate Business Plan: transformation of our core business for better service delivery; human resources reform and renewal; administrative reform and renewal; and transparent management for results. We are reporting our year-two progress against our change agenda, building on last year's performance results. This milestone is particularly relevant, as realizing our change agenda is essential to achieving real gains in preparation for our five-year review by Parliament.

The four other outcomes above relate to our core, day-to-day operations. Sustaining an appropriate level of performance year in and year out against the expectations we have established for these four outcomes remains the primary focus for our business lines.

To assess our performance in achieving our six intermediate outcomes for innovation and core operations, we have established 34 anticipated results that are aligned with the strategic goals and objectives set out in our 2001-2002 to 2003-2004 Corporate Business Plan. Since that plan, we have defined strategic and intermediate outcomes for the Agency and integrated them with our corporate goals and objectives in line with the Government's commitment to report on results for Canadians. Exhibit 2 illustrates the integrated framework we are using as a basis for accountability against our 2001-2002 to 2003-2004 Corporate Business Plan objectives. Our most recent Corporate Business Plan, the Summary of which was tabled in Parliament in March 2002, provides further detail on our Strategic Framework for Planning and Reporting.

Rating our performance

With Account ability, we are reporting on our performance at two levels: agency-wide, and by business line. We use a performance report card system to align anticipated results with expected outcomes by business line, identifying the actual results achieved and the indicators we use to assess our performance. Our overall assessment of ratings reflects our best judgment of our performance and the quality of our data, based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors. We rate each anticipated result and show whether our performance met, mostly met, or did not meet the target. We also rate the quality of our performance information according to whether the data are considered good, reasonable, or weak. This dual rating system uses colour-coded symbols where squares indicate our performance and circles indicate the quality of our data.

In assessing our performance for 2001-2002, we use a range of indicators including survey results, statistical samples, and relevant business volumetrics. In some cases, we rely on estimates to get a rough, but useful sense of a performance trend. Over time, these estimates provide an indication of how well the CCRA is performing at promoting compliance, within certain parameters. In other cases, robust performance indicators are not yet in place, or the supporting data are inherently too imprecise to draw firm conclusions, but represent the best available information at this time.

Improvements in how we report our performance

Building on last year's foundation we have made the following enhancements:

We have expanded the CCRA Performance Report to provide more context to our performance story. For example, we now include a performance snapshot for each business line and report on our progress against the 2000-2001 Road Ahead.

We have increased our focus on innovation. We are reporting more clearly on our four change objectives, at a mid-point in our first five years as an agency.

We include comparisons between this year's and last year's data, as well as graphs and charts to more clearly illustrate our results.

We clarify the meaning of our expected outcomes and anticipated results, include a more complete set of targets, and define the success criteria we use to assess our performance.

We provide a more comprehensive discussion of our performance by business line on our Web site, which includes a new schedule that showcases the work we do with our partners.

We provide a better portrayal of our partners' contribution to results we have achieved in support of our shared outcomes.

We clearly identify performance drivers—the external or internal factors or events that we believe have an important impact on the CCRA's ability to meet its success criteria.

We include supplementary financial information in the CCRA Financial Statements to meet Departmental Performance Reporting requirements.

Date modified:

2003-04-25