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Mr. Michel Samson, CPA, CA
Acting Auditor General

Biographical Notes

On November 29, 2011, the President of National Assembly appointed Mr. Michel Samson as Acting Auditor General of Québec.

Since January 1, 2008, Mr. Samson held the position of Assistant Auditor General.  He was responsible for several teams of experts in charge of carrying out value-for-money audits with government entities, whose scope and vocation were highly varied. The projects that he conducted mainly concerns such areas as education, transportation, culture and finance. Moreover, since 2010, he supervised the general directorate that offers value-for-money audit advisory services for its staff.

It was in 1990 that this CA joined the staff of the Auditor General. He began by working as a professional for six years in Québec City, being mainly assigned to value-for-money audits. He went on to accept a senior management position at the Montréal office; the files on which he worked concerned both financial audits and management audits.

His commitment and versatility bore fruit. In 2003, he returned to Québec City where he would serve as senior director, overseeing some thirty employees up until 2005. He is credited with numerous reports, which take stock of the practices used in, and the financial information produced by the Administration. He was entrusted with key sectors, which allowed him to demonstrate his ability to successfully complete particularly demanding assignments. The main components of his mandate were related to education, justice, modernization of government management, and computer systems.

Over the last few years, Mr. Samson heads four auditing directorates specializing in value-for-money audits. He carried out a significant share of the audit engagements completed on behalf of the National Assembly. Moreover, since being hired, he has often participated in special audits or overseen their completion.

As for his other professional activities, this experienced manager has contributed to the efforts made by all Canadian legislative auditors to promote the quality of information on performance published in the public sector. In addition, he has hosted training sessions on value-for-money auditing (Institute of Internal Auditors, Morocco Audit Institution, etc.) on many occasions. Finally, he has been a member of numerous in-house committees, including the one responsible for the organization’s strategic planning from 2000 to 2006.

Before joining the ranks of the Auditor General, Michel Samson worked for two accounting firms. As a partner, he carried out financial auditing work for small and medium-sized businesses in the manufacturing sector.

A member of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec since 1984, which was brought into the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec in May 2012, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Licence.