Supporting Documentation: Source and Disposition of Authorities by Type (voted and statutory) as per the Public Accounts of Canada

Volume 2, Section 1, Table 7

This dataset presents the source and disposition of budgetary and non-budgetary authorities by ministry and by type of authority (voted and statutory). The level of details provided for the source and disposition of authorities is explained in the Introduction to Volume II of the Public Accounts of Canada. In addition, detailed information is provided in the "Ministry Summary" statement in each ministerial section of Volume II of the Public Accounts of Canada.

The Government submits its spending proposals to Parliament in the annual Estimates. During the year, the Government may request further appropriations. The initial request is called the "Main Estimates" and additional requests are called "Supplementary Estimates". With these Estimates, the Government requests authority for that part of the proposed spending which is not already provided by other statutes. The amounts making up the total of such proposed spending are authorized in Appropriation Acts and are generally referred to as "annual" or "voted" authorities. The balance of the planned spending is made under authority of other statutes which authorize disbursements for specified purposes, and for such amounts and time periods as are set by those acts. The proposed or estimated uses of most of these "statutory" authorities for the current year are included in the Estimates for information purposes; however, they are not included in appropriation acts because they have already been authorized by Parliament.

Voted authorities, with few exceptions, lapse at the end of the year if not used, while statutory authorities, with few exceptions, are carried forward to future years. Those authorities which extend to subsequent years are referred to as "non-lapsing".

Budgetary appropriations provide spending authority for those transactions which enter into the calculation of the annual deficit or surplus of the Government. Non-budgetary appropriations provide spending authority for all transactions which result in the acquisition or disposal of loans, investments and advances. Balances of appropriations brought forward from the previous years are available for spending, together with current increases to such authorities.

The totals of these authorities are reduced by the amount of their current year use to determine the balances which lapse, are overexpended or are carried forward to future years, depending upon the type of authority. In cases where the spending of loan repayments is authorized, the non-budgetary spending is reported net of such repayments.

Notes:

• All amounts are in thousands of dollars.
• If amount shown is zero, either it is less than $500 or no amount was reported.

Note concerning data elements under the header “ATH_CTGRY_XPND_IND” where abbreviations have the following meaning:

• BV – Budgetary-Voted
• BS-BL – Budgetary-Statutory
• NBV – Non-Budgetary-Voted
• NBS-NBL – Non-Budgetary-Statutory

Note concerning data elements under the header “C_ADJ_WRT_TRN_AMT” (adjustments, warrants and transfers) which include the following items:

• reserved allotments established to provide payment authority for the overexpenditure of previous year’s appropriations which resulted from prior year’s payables;
• adjustments to items displayed in the Estimates on an informational basis to reflect actual spending and of certain authorities carried forward to reflect authorities available;
• adjustments to authorities granted in statutes other than appropriation acts.

Note concerning data elements under the header “NET_XPND_PY_AMT” (used in the previous year):

• certain comparative figures have been reclassified to conform to the current Government structure. Additional information is provided in the Ministerial Sections within Volume II of the Public Accounts of Canada.

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