For Commission members, managing government
activities like businesses necessarily translates
into positive outcomes, such as departments
being more pressured to meet budget targets, public
servants being prouder of their work, and units
being more efficient. Further, when reflecting
about the achievements of the Commission, one
participant underlined that the Commission basically
translated ideas promoted by the Office of
the Auditor General and a few deputy ministers
(the most senior civil servants). Commission members
interviewed the Auditor General and used the
Office’s reports as input – especially the 1992
report issued at the beginning of 1993. They also
used a few former or current deputy ministers to
‘‘educate’’ them and ‘‘test’’ ideas.
The AFRC emphasizes in its final report that
the annual deficit is ‘‘serious and is getting worse’’
(p. 2), and that a plan to eliminate annual deficits
completely should be adopted. For Commission
members it was inconceivable that the Alberta
government was not committed to managing by
results like the private sector and the report made
it clear that this was an important part of the solution
to improve the financial position of the Province
(p. 1). The Commission also stated that the
Province’s financial reporting should be made
more understandable and timely, and that management
control and accountability systems
‘‘should be more effective’’ (p. 4). With regard to
the latter: