The Standing Committees of Accountability and Oversight, Governance and Economic Development, and Social Programs all participate in the review of the government's business plans and main estimates. The committees met from January 14, 2002 to January 25, 2002 to review the 2002-2003 draft main estimates for the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight is comprised of all Regular Members. The committee prepares a report dealing with issues that are government-wide in nature, which were identified by the Standing Committees on Governance and Economic Development and Social Programs. The issues identified in the next section of the report are government-wide in nature and were brought forward to this committee for further study and discussion.

Total operations expenses for the government increased from $833,642,000 proposed in 2002-2003 business plans to $851,673,000 proposed in the draft 2002-2003 main estimates. This represents an increase of $18,031,000. Total capital expenditures for the government declined from $131,928,000 proposed in its business plans to $108,852,000 proposed in its draft main estimates, representing a decrease of $23,076,000. A major portion of this reduction is due to the cancellation of the original Highway Investment Strategy and the transfer of infrastructure contributions from capital expenditures to operations expense as the result of the revised accounting process for capital.