PGPA Newsletter 55

It is now a mandatory requirement for entities to report their executive remuneration details, including their remuneration policies and practices, in annual reports, beginning with the entity’s 2018-19 annual report.

This reporting replaces the previous voluntary disclosure on entity websites. The reporting requirements are set out in Subdivision C of the PGPA Rule for Commonwealth entities and Part 3-3 of the PGPA Rule for Commonwealth companies.

RMG 138 and RMG 139 provide guidance for reporting by Commonwealth entities and Commonwealth companies.

If you have questions relating to executive remuneration reporting contact pmra@finance.gov.au.     

A reminder that 2019-20 corporate plans must be published on your entity’s website by 31 August 2019.

Entity corporate plans must be given to the relevant Minister and the Finance Minister before publishing (S16E PGPA Rule). As per previous years, the requirement to provide the entity’s corporate plan to the Finance Minister is met when emailed to the Finance PMRA inbox pmra@finance.gov.au.

If you wish to receive confirmation of receipt, please indicate this in the email. 

We are seeking volunteers to assist us in the testing of our proposed redeveloped Resource Management information pages on the Finance website.   The Independent Review into the operation of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and Rule contains a recommendation (Rec 39) that Finance continue to support entities, including through the expanded use of web-based materials and the enhancement of guidance.

We are seeking your assistance with testing the website structure through a tree jack survey.  The survey involves users answering a small number of sample questions in relation to navigating the Resource Management information. This will assist us in understanding, from a user’s perspective, the most useful way to lay out the information to meet your needs. 

How does the survey work? A link to the survey would be issued to you via email and will take around 10 minutes to complete. The questions are scenarios based. The responses to the survey are anonymous, and personal information will not be collected. 

If you’d like to participate in the survey we would appreciate your assistance.  If you would like more information please contact Ismail Hammoud on 6215 1566.  Please email your interest to pmra@finance.gov.au. We look forward to hearing from you. 

A new Flipchart of Commonwealth entities and companies was issued on 1 July 2019.   The Flipchart reflects the commencement of two new non-corporate Commonwealth entities:

• the National Faster Rail Agency in the Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development portfolio 
• the National Indigenous Australians Agency in the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio. 

Additional changes have been made to reflect that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) no longer engages staff under the Public Service Act 1999. View the latest version of the Flipchart and its associated List of Commonwealth entities and companies. 

The key findings from the 2019 Risk Management Benchmarking Program are now available via the Finance website. The Benchmarking Program is designed for General Government Sector entities to self assess their risk management capability against the nine elements of the Commonwealth Risk Management Policy using a risk maturity model. 

Some key findings from the 2019 Program are:  

• A gradual but consistent increase of 12% in the overall risk capability in the past five years. 
• The more complex policy elements remain the lowest scoring. These are: managing shared risk, maintaining risk management capability and developing a positive risk culture. Encouragingly, however, these elements have also shown the greatest improvement since Program commencement in 2015 (29%, 18% and 15%, respectively). 
• The top four current sources of risk identified were service and program delivery, people, financial and stakeholder management.  
• The top four emerging sources of risk identified were technology, political, service and program delivery and financial.  

 
For further information on the Benchmarking Programs, contact Comcover on 1800 651 540 or comcover@comcover.com.au

Comcover’s SES Leadership in Risk pathway has been refreshed. It now includes a greater focus on the importance of leadership and considers key themes raised in both the Independent Review into the operation of the PGPA Act and Rule and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.  

The pathway includes how executives manage and engage with risk and build positive culture through leadership.  

The pathway has a dynamic new focus to help the SES cohort build risk management capability and further develop the leadership skills needed to engage with risk in innovative and positive ways. 

Register Now! Places are available for the remaining 2019 Leadership in Risk sessions: 29 August 26 September 15 November 

Comcover also offers free face-to-face risk capability workshops for those who encounter risk every day in the course of their work as well as specialists who are required to design and implement an entity’s risk management framework.  

Places are available in these risk workshops as detailed below.

Generalist Practical Risk Management 
Specialist Embedding Risk Management 
26 and 27 August 6 August and 3 September 20 and 23 September 2 September and 18 October 15 and 16 October 9 October and 14 November 18 and 19 November

Registrations are accessible via the Comcover Learning centre. 

For further information on the Benchmarking Programs, contact Comcover on 1800 651 540 or comcover@comcover.com.au. 

In the 2019-20 Budget, the Government committed $7 million over two years for a pilot within the Attorney-General’s Department to strengthen whole-of-government counter fraud arrangements.  The Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre within the Attorney-General’s Department will perform advisory, outreach and influence functions, to provide Commonwealth entities with a collaborative and informed approach to combatting fraud.

The Centre will assist entities to address fraud risks and vulnerabilities in their policy and program design and implementation phases. The pilot will address the current gaps in these areas by leading efforts to:  

• develop methods for more accurately identifying the impacts of fraud against the government and evaluating the effectiveness of counter fraud measures 
• support entities to share lessons learned, and encourage their ensuing integration into policy and program design 
• identify barriers to information sharing, and develop solutions to overcome them 
• gain a greater understanding of fraud initiatives across government by working with entities, and using this heightened understanding to minimise duplication of effort and resources, share expertise and experience, and strengthen interagency collaboration. The long term aim of the Centre is to better equip entities to prevent fraud occurring, by fostering a more sophisticated understanding of fraud risks and measures to deter, detect and prevent fraud. 

Commonwealth Fraud Liaison Forum The Attorney-General’s Department invites you to save the date for the 2019 Commonwealth Fraud Liaison Forum, which will be held on Tuesday 19 November at the Kambri Cultural Centre in Canberra. Official invitations will be sent via email shortly. The Forum provides valuable opportunities to engage with current issues, initiatives and updates in the fraud space, as well as to meet a range of fraud officials working in the public, private and international sectors. 

For more information about the Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre or the Fraud Liaison Forum, please direct your enquires to the Fraud Mailbox at fraud@ag.gov.au.