Annual Report 2006: Commissioner's introduction
Structure and governance
Senior managment appointments
In June 2006, we appointed Robert (Bob) Russell to the position of Deputy Commissioner (Service Delivery). Bob replaces Naomi Ferguson who has returned to the United Kingdom following a three-year secondment with us. Bob, currently the Assistant Commissioner for the Atlantic Region of the Canada Revenue Agency, takes up his position in October 2006.
During the year we also appointed a number of third-tier managers. We now have:
- five group managers reporting directly to the Deputy Commissioner (Service Delivery) and Deputy Commissioner (Business Development and Systems). They will support the introduction of five new groups: Customer Insight, Design, Assistance, Customer Operations and Assurance. The group managers were all internal appointments
- a new group manager (Finance and Planning) who is also our Chief Financial Officer
- a new group manager in Adjudication and Rulings.
Governance
This section discusses our external accountability to Parliament and our internal governance arrangements.
External accountability to Parliament
In terms of our external accountability to Parliament, we attended two Finance and Expenditure Committee (FEC) hearings during the year:
- Financial Review for our 2004-05 annual report on 22 March 2006
- Estimates Review for the department's 2006-07 financial appropriation on 21 June 2006.
During the year, the department also attended FEC hearings considering tax and other legislation related to departmental areas of responsibility.
FEC findings are available on the Select Committee website at:
www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/SC/Reports
Internal governance
Our internal governance arrangements are structured around internal boards and committees which provide appropriate managerial oversight for all our responsibilities.
There are two governance boards, both chaired by the Commissioner:
- The Executive Board examines longer-term strategy, ethics, external relationships, strategic risks, progress towards our long-term objectives and outcomes, and employee survey results.
- The Management Board focuses on and manages major operational issues, such as high-level business outcomes, outputs and performance risks.
These two boards are supported by four committees (chaired by the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioners) that provide oversight in specific areas:
- Project Governance and Investment Committee - oversees the approval, initiation and implementation of key projects. This committee has external members.
- People and Capability Committee - drives our key focus area of enhancing the capability of our people.
- Technical Issues Committee - facilitates and ensures the coordination of departmental effort on key legal and technical issues.
- Risk and Assurance Committee - provides independent assurance to the Commissioner on aspects of the effective and efficient discharge of his statutory responsibilities and accountabilities. This committee has external members.
Managing risk
Informed decision-making and a robust priority-setting process enables us to deliver on our desired outcomes. We achieve this through our strong governance structures and the implementation of a sound risk management framework.
During the year, we initiated a review of the department's current Risk Management Framework to ensure the risk management process continues to meet industry standards and our changing business requirements. This review helps us to maintain the overall health of the framework and will assist us to:
- identify risks across our initiatives and activities
- develop appropriate risk mitigation strategies to address these.
We have continued to implement our coordinated risk management approach across the business to identify and manage key risks.
Date published: 29 Nov 2006
Back to top