2025–26 Quarterly Financial Report (for the first quarter ended June 30, 2025)

ISSN 2819-0041

Statement Outlining Results, Risks and Significant Changes in Operations, Personnel and Programs

Introduction

This quarterly financial report should be read in conjunction with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates for the current fiscal year. It 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. This report has not been subject to an external audit or review.

Additional information on the Office’s mandate, raison d’être and program expenditures is available in the 2025–26 Estimates (Parts I and II) and in the Office’s corporate publications.

Basis of Presentation

This report has been prepared using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities reflects the spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the Office, consistent with the Main Estimates and any Supplementary Estimates for 2025–26. The report follows a special-purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet information needs related to the use of spending authorities.

Parliamentary authority is required before any funds can be spent by the Government. Such authority is provided through appropriation acts or statutory legislation for specific purposes. When Parliament is dissolved for a general election, section 30 of the Financial Administration Act allows the Governor in Council, under certain conditions, to request that the Governor General issue a special warrant authorizing withdrawals from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. A special warrant is deemed an appropriation for the fiscal year in which it is issued.

While the Office prepares its annual financial statements on a full-accrual basis as part of the departmental results reporting process, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis.

Highlights of the Fiscal Quarter and the Fiscal Year-to-Date Results

This section identifies and explains significant variances, trends and changes related to increases and/or decreases in actual expenditures and in relation to planned expenditures. The amounts are compared to the same periods of the preceding fiscal year, for both the quarter and the year-to-date results.

Statement of Authorities

Total Authorities Available for Use

Authorities increased by $1,861,871 (+31%), from $6,066,353 in 2024–25 to $7,928,224 in 2025–26. This increase reflects new permanent funding from Budget 2024 and an off-cycle 2024-2025 decision to support the external whistleblowing regime and address the higher caseload.

Statement of Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object

Planned Expenditures for the Year

Planned expenditures for 2025–26 total $7,928,224, an increase of $1,861,871 (+31%) compared to $6,066,353 in 2024–25. Most of this increase relates to personnel costs (+$1,789,406), as the Office plans to hire additional staff to manage the growing caseload of disclosures of wrongdoing and reprisal complaints. Smaller increases are planned for professional services and rentals to support operational needs.

Expenditures during the Quarter

Expenditures for the first quarter of 2025–26 totalled $1,214,237, a decrease of $215,373 (–15%) compared to the same period in 2024–25. This decrease is primarily due to payroll accrual timing, the transfer-out of two employees, and reduced travel and information expenses. These decreases were partially offset by higher professional services costs (+$42,694, +30%), while other objects showed only minor timing differences.

Risks and Uncertainties

The Office operates in a highly sensitive environment where cultural resistance to whistleblowing within the federal public sector persists, often driven by fear of reprisal. Decisions by individuals to disclose wrongdoing or file reprisal complaints, combined with case complexity, legislative requirements, and limited resources, continue to challenge the Office’s ability to meet its mandate and service standards. This reality underscores the critical need to recruit and retain skilled employees for key positions such as investigators and case admissibility analysts.

As a micro-organization, the Office faces inherent challenges in attracting, retaining, and developing talent with the right mix of skills. These challenges can affect operational capacity and knowledge transfer. To mitigate this risk, the Office employs proactive recruitment strategies and, where appropriate, uses casual employment and contractors to maintain flexibility.

The Office also relies on external service providers for many corporate functions, creating dependency risks if providers cannot meet all of the Office’s needs. To address this, the Office maintains memoranda of understanding with clear service expectations, conducts regular monitoring, and audits service-level agreements. Despite these measures, persistent information technology (IT) risks have prompted a strategic shift from external service arrangements to in-house information and technology management to ensure reliability and responsiveness.

Workload pressures present another significant risk. Based on historical trends, the number of disclosures and reprisal complaints continues to rise. In the current year, the Office has continued to experience a sharp and unprecedented increase in submissions that far exceeds the Office’s capacity to address incoming submissions in a timely fashion, much less address the growing backlog. Currently, some cases awaiting analysis date back as far as 15 months, and the number of active investigations has swelled to 62. High volumes of submissions along with delays in investigations inherently increase the risk of litigation arising from files, as the Office currently faces 13 judicial review applications among other legal matters. To manage this, the Office closely monitors caseloads and human resource capacity, optimizes internal processes, and leverages additional funding to strengthen staffing and operational capacity.

Finally, the Office faces cybersecurity and information management risks, including threats from malware, hacking, and human error, which could compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information. To mitigate these risks, the Office is modernizing its IT infrastructure and is continuing the ongoing implementation of the Case Management System that was launched in 2024. These measures aim to ensure operational continuity, safeguard sensitive information in an evolving risk environment, and enhance efficiencies.

Significant Changes in Relation to Operations, Personnel and Programs

During the first quarter of 2025–26, the Office experienced the projected sharp and unprecedented increase in the number of disclosures and reprisal complaints. This surge in submissions has added to the backlog of cases that far exceeds the Office’s processing capacity. Addressing this challenge remains a key operational priority and is driving efforts to strengthen human resource capacity and optimize internal processes.

Approval by Senior Officials

(Original signed by)

• Harriet Solloway
  Public Sector Integrity Commissioner
• Alexandre Roitman
  Chief Financial Officer

Ottawa, Canada
August 29, 2025

Statement of Authorities (unaudited)

Notes:
* Includes only authorities available for use and granted by Parliament at quarter-end.
** Employer Benefit Plan contributions are paid proportionally over 12 months rather than based on salaries paid. An adjustment is made by TBS at year-end.

Departmental Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object (unaudited)