Compliance Assessment Management Letter: The Northern Shopper
c/o Kathleen MacKinnon
27 Maplehill Way
Ottawa ON K2C 3H1
RE: Compliance Assessment Report Results and Follow-Up
Dear Ms. MacKinnon:
Deloitte recently conducted a Compliance Assessment of your organization for the 2015-2016 fiscal year to ensure that Recipients are compliant with the terms and conditions outlined in their Contribution Agreements with Nutrition North Canada (NNC). Specifically, our Auditors were looking to verify the following:
- Whether the Recipient is passing on the full value of the subsidy to consumers;
- Whether program visibility requirements are met and that the subsidy is transparent to consumers;
- The Recipient's reporting and claiming systems and procedures with regards to gaps and controls issues; and
- Whether the Recipient respected program rules in regards to sales to ineligible clients.
The attached Compliance Assessment Report describes the Auditor's observations, conclusions and recommendations for your organization. They found that the full subsidy is being passed on to the consumer but were not able to assess your pricing methodology as policies were inconsistently applied. Deloitte also noted the need to improve your control environment in order to detect any errors that may occur before submission to NNC. They noted that you have implemented a new process to standardize your pricing methodology and to provide an independent review of your claims. Please provide a written summary of the new process you have put in place. This will enable INAC to better monitor the results of your newly implemented process with respect to whether the subsidy is being eroded. We ask that you provide a written response within 30 days of the date of this letter.
Please note that the Compliance Assessment Report, Management Letter and Action Plan will be posted to the Department's website.
Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this Compliance Assessment or the posting of the information within it, please do not hesitate to contact your NNC representative.
Sincerely,
Diane Robinson
Director
Nutrition North Canada