Central Budget Management System (CBMS)
102.1.1 General guidance on CBMS
- Financial information for both monthly actuals and monthly estimates should be entered in CBMS on a cumulative year‑to‑date basis;
- All financial information should be entered in CBMS in dollar thousands ($000's);
- Agencies need to ensure authorisation access in agencies is available or arrange with appropriate Finance AAU (for Annual Estimates) or the Monthly Reporting Team (for monthly actuals, monthly estimates and Annual Actuals) to authorise data prior to deadline;
- Guidance material on data entry, including flat files and chart of accounts is available in the CBMS Online Help;
- System difficulties with the input application should be reported to the CBMS Service Desk on (02) 6215 3535 or cbmsservicedesk@finance.gov.au.
102.1.2 Tips on the Entry of Information into the Budget Estimates and Actuals Management (BEAM) Module in CBMS
- Assistance on the entry of annual and monthly financial reporting is available on the CBMS Online Help including data entry, flat files, agency authorisation and reports; and
- Detailed information on the validation rules is available under the CBMS Users ‑ Reference Material in CBMS Knowledge Management.
Flat Files
- Flat files are a good way of uploading data into CBMS quickly and efficiently. Information on developing flat files is included in the CBMS Online Help;
- Agencies developing new flat files should ensure test loading into CBMS is undertaken well in advance of a deadline;
- Finance are willing to help agencies develop flat file structures and test their loading into CBMS;
- Ensure signage on financial information is consistent with CBMS;
- Ensure all movement account splits for the equity and non-financial asset schedules, as well as the relevant related entity, program or function where required are included in the flat file structure.
Equity Schedule
- Opening balances are equal to closing balances from agencies audited financial statements. These cells are not available for input;
- Adjustments to these opening balances for any reason should be reflected in the opening balance adjustment line;
- Equity injections should be recorded in the Injection / (Disposal) of Capital line in the Equity Schedule, not the Other Movements line;
- Accumulated Reserves and Revaluations, Net Acquisition / (Disposal) of Administered Investments should be recorded in an account labelled as such in the Equity Schedule. These amounts should not be recorded in the Other Movements line.
Non-Financial Assets Schedule
- Opening balances are equal to closing balances from agencies audited financial statements. These cells are not available for input;
- Adjustments to these opening balances for any reason should be reflected in the opening balance adjustment line;
- Disposals and writedowns of assets should be entered in the relevant movement accounts, not Other Movements.
Inter-Agency Transactions
Agencies with which your agency transacts in the General Government sector, need to be identified/allocated prior to entry of financial information;
To have an agency allocated to you for reporting purposes you need to send a request to the CBMS Service Desk well in advance of any deadline. Allocations can take a week or longer, and cannot be done instantly;
Utilise related entity accounts when entering inter-agency transaction information;
Information in related entity accounts is then allocated to the agencies with which transactions have occurred using the list available when fully drilled down;
The threshold for reporting inter-agency transactions is $20 million per CBMS account, per annum (e.g. supply of goods and services expense related entities etc). This means that agencies should separately identify those related entity balances that are likely to be greater than or equal to $20 million by year end. In addition, if the value of related entity transactions in an account will be less than $20 million for the year but it was reported against a related entity account in the previous year annual statements, it should also be reported against a related entity account in CBMS for monthly actuals, monthly estimates and annual estimates.
Related entity superannuation expenses and FBT should be separately identified irrespective of the amount involved. This is because these related entity balances are relevant to most agencies and, therefore, are material at the General Government level.
100.1.1 Validation rules
A detailed discussion of the validation rules can be accessed in the CBMS Knowledge Management. The rules that impact all modules and would result in a validation failure are listed below. Validation rules that will result in a failure to authorise;
Total Assets = Total liabilities + equity;
Cash transfers to OPA <= 0
Total grants expense = Grants capital expense + Grants current expense;
Transfers to/from reserves in the equity schedule = 0 (ie. no net impact on equity);
Depreciation/amortisation expense as per Income Statement = Depreciation as per non-financial assets schedule;
Net revaluations (Equity Schedule) - Net Writedowns (Income Statement) = Revaluations and Writeoffs (Non-Financial Assets Schedule);
Disposals (Non-financial Assets Schedule) + Net gain/loss (Sale of Assets) = Proceed from Sale.
Written down value of non-financial assets sold (Income Statement) = Written down value of disposals (Non-Financial Assets Schedule).
Variance exceeds threshold and requires a variance explanation to be entered
Total Programme Cash receipts = Total Cash received (Income Statement)
Total Programme Cash payments = Total Cash used (Income Statement)
Total Programme Revenue = Total Revenue (Income Statement) Total Programme
Expense = Total Expenses (Income Statement)
Contact for information on this page: Financial Reporting and Accounting Policy Contacts