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2020–21 Departmental Results Report

Financial Statements and Financial Statements Highlights

Financial statements

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer's audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2021, are available on the agency's websitei.

These financial statements have been prepared using Government of Canada accounting policies, which are based on Canadian public sector accounting standards. This method of accounting, known as the accrual basis of accounting, differs from the method used to present the figures in the previous sections; those figures are based on authorities voted by Parliament on a modified cash basis.

Financial statements highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2021 (dollars)
Financial Information 2020–21
Planned results*
2020–21
Actual results
2019–20
Actual results restated
Difference (2020–21 actual results minus 2020–2021 planned results) Difference (2020–21 actual results minus 2019–20 actual results)
Total expenses 144,306,392 206,238,974 580,510,349 61,932,582 (374,271,375)
Total revenues N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers 144,306,392 206,238,974 580,510,349 61,932,582 (374,271,375)

The net decrease in total expenses of $374.3 million in 2020–21 compared with 2019–20 is mainly due to the conduct of the October 2019 general election, for which a significant proportion of expenses was incurred in 2019–20.

The difference in actual versus planned results of $61.9 million is primarily a result of preparation costs for the 44th general election. Elections Canada did not include the incremental costs of election preparedness in its Main Estimates due to the fact that results of the 43rd general election (minority government) were not known at the time of submission.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2021 (dollars)
Financial Information 2020–21 2019–20 restated Difference (2020–21 minus 2019–20)
Total net liabilities 45,212,613 78,570,843 (33,358,230)
Total net financial assets 36,010,425 71,917,436 (35,907,011)
Departmental net debt (9,202,188) (6,653,407) (2,548,781)
Total non-financial assets 67,056,665 34,364,255 32,692,410
Departmental net financial position 57,854,477 27,710,848 30,143,629

The largest amounts included in the net liabilities for 2020–21 include $24 M in accrued liabilities, $7.3M in provision for vacation leave and other benefits and $6.5M for accrued salaries and benefits. The financial assets include $30.6M for the due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund and $5.4M in Accounts receivables. The non-financial assets include $3.9M in Prepaids Expenditures, $34.2M in Consumable Supplies and $29M in Fixed Assets.

Total net liabilities for 2020–21 amount to $45.2 million, a decrease of $33.3 million compared with 2019–20. This decrease is mainly explained by the year-end accrued liabilities required for the transfer payments. The decrease in total net financial assets is mainly due to the decrease in the amount due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund as a result of a decrease in the accrued liabilities. The increase of $32.6M in the non-financial assets is mainly due to an increase in prepaid expenditures and consumable supplies required to deliver an election in a pandemic situation.

Footnotes

Footnote i Financial Statements, https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=rep/dpr/drr2020&document=financial&lang=e