PGPA Newsletter 73

As it is peak Annual Report writing time, it is timely to remind our digital annual report coordinators of some key pieces of support on offer.

PGPA guidance

The Finance website has all relevant policy guidance, including your entity specific resource management guide as well as general annual report information and frequently asked questions. The team is available to assist entities with understanding these resources, and providing guidance and advice on the PGPA Rule requirements.

Publishing to the Transparency Portal

In order to prepare for publishing your annual report to the Transparency Portal, we recommend reviewing your content against the following Help Centre articles Publishing to Transparency Portal checklist and Previewing content on the Transparency Portal. Noting that you will need to be logged in to Digital Annual Reporting Tool to view the article and preview the content.

Ask Finance to perform a sanity check

When you are ready to publish to the Transparency Portal, the digital annual reporting team is available to perform a sanity check of your digital report. While not a compliance check against the PGPA Rule, a sanity check of your annual report will highlight areas in relation to Web Accessibility requirements, whether mandatory data templates have been correctly completed, and other features designed to improve the digital version of your annual report.

Pasting images from PDFs

The Transparency Portal is established to provide a searchable resource across multiple entities to the Parliament and the public. Viewers of the data in the portal are able to directly compare key information between a multitude of different entities.  However, if the data is not input correctly in the tool, or is copied and pasted as an image from a PDF, then it is not meeting the requirements for digital publishing.  Please ensure that your content is input in the correct format.  If in doubt, please contact the Digital Annual Reporting Team.

For all digital annual report enquiries, please contact Digital Annual Reporting team at DigitalAnnualReportProject@finance.gov.au, on 02 6215 1653, or by the team’s GovTEAMS channel.

Finance issued an email to COOs and CFOs of all Commonwealth entities and companies that produce a Portfolio Budget Statements (PBS) on Thursday 16 September 2021 seeking feedback in relation to proposed amendments to the Finance Secretary’s Direction (the Direction).

The Direction, issued under subsection 36(3) of the PGPA Act, sets out requirements for the provision of performance information in PBS. The current Direction came into effect for the 2015-16 Budget.

Following amendments to the PGPA Rule made in February 2020, Finance is reviewing the Direction to ensure alignment with the amended Rule. The opportunity is also being taken to provide greater alignment between the PBS and the corporate plan.

The email sent to COOs and CFOs included proposed amendments to the Direction and associated proposed changes to the performance table template provided in PBS Guidance for inclusion in Section 2: Outcomes and planned performance of the PBS. This feedback is due by Thursday 7 October 2021.

Please contact your COO/CFO if you would like to provide feedback, noting we ask that feedback is coordinated and consolidated through your COO/CFO areas. Consolidated feedback on the proposed amendments to the Direction should be provided by email to PGPA@finance.gov.au.

If you have questions about the proposed amendments please contact David Saywell, Director, Performance Reporting on 02 6215 3130 or email us at PGPA@finance.gov.au. We look forward to hearing from you.

Updates have been made to two RMGs on the Finance website:

• RMG-202 Audit committees: Amendments have been made to the linked guides for non-corporate Commonwealth entities and corporate Commonwealth entities on the role of audit committees.
• RMG-212 Prescribing officials for non-corporate Commonwealth entities: Amendments have been made to clarify requirements.

If you would like a track change version of these RMGs please email us at PGPA@finance.gov.au.

CSC is offering 2 hour online training sessions for employers, covering everything you need to know about the super onboarding process and eligibility.

Topics covered will be a brief overview of CSC and Super in the wake of stapling including:

• What stapling is and how it affects Super
• Why super matters
• Who is CSC
• Options for new employees
• Growth of super

Registrations for CSC’s Stapling Training sessions are now live on our website. Please see link below:

CSC Employer Training and Education

You will need to scroll down and click the ‘register now’ button. Once there, you will be able to click on a session that suits you best. All these sessions will be run using MS Teams.

Please be aware that sessions are capped so please ensure that you are only registering for those staff members who will be able to attend.

Also, please contact us if you cannot access MS Teams or if you have any questions or concerns on 1300 338 240.

Remember, Risk is everyone’s business!

Review of the Commonwealth Risk Management Policy - Update

In line with recommendation 41 of the Independent Review into the operation of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and Rule, Department of Finance, Comcover, is undertaking a review of the Commonwealth Risk Management Policy (the Policy) with a view to improving its coherence and operation.

The Policy has been drafted to focus on strengthening risk culture and behaviours to improve the risk maturity of entities.  

An inter-entity Steering Committee has been established to oversee the review and has considered whole of Australian Government reviews, Australian State and International Government risk processes, and private sector and academic insights.

A set of eight draft recommendations have been agreed and consultation on these recommendations is currently underway. 

If you would like more information, please contact riskpolicyreview@finance.gov.au.

Commonwealth Awards for Excellence in Risk Management – Nominations Closing Soon!

The 2021 Commonwealth Awards for Excellence in Risk Management (the Awards) are now open.

The Awards recognise and reward Commonwealth entities exhibiting excellence in risk management practice that supports innovation and improved decision making.

The past few years has given rise to exceptional challenges, but has also highlighted the importance of a strong underlying risk management framework and the need for agile and excellent risk management solutions to a rapidly changing environment.

Nominations are encouraged from all Commonwealth entities and can be made in one or both of the following categories.

Enterprise Wide Risk Management – for excellence in implementing risk management frameworks, practices and processes across the entity.

Risk Initiative – for excellence in risk management demonstrated by a specific entity program/project, or service delivery initiative. 

For further details on the Awards, please refer to our website here.

Key dates to note are:

If you require any further information, or wish to discuss your nomination please email RiskAwards@finance.gov.au or contact Finance’s Comcover line on 1800 651 540 – option 4

Comcover Education Program – Upcoming Workshops

In response to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, Comcover has adapted its face-to-face risk workshops to also be accessible virtually online. For 2021, we have decided to keep this approach and take on a blended learning environment of both face-to-face and virtual workshops.

Currently, we have three workshops across four different pathways available for free to all APS employees. If any of these workshops sound beneficial to you or anybody within your entity, please register on the Comcover Learning Centre, email comcover@comcover.com.au or call 1800 651 540 – option 2.

Please also find below a calendar of all upcoming Comcover workshops, both virtual and face-to-face. We look forward to seeing you attend.

APS Level 4, PGPA Communications Team, Department of Finance

The PGPA Communications Team is seeking a motivated and hardworking professional to join our team to assist in providing administration support for the Australian Government Organisations Register (AGOR). AGOR provides information on the function, composition, origins and other details of Australian Government entities and bodies and is based on information provided by portfolio departments. More information about AGOR is available here. The AGOR Administrator role requires good judgement and personal integrity, basic skills in Microsoft Excel, CRMs and IT is also desirable.

As an Administrator you will assist the team in supporting AGOR Portfolio Administrators in meeting reporting requirements and the development of statistical information and reports to support the reporting of Australian Government organisations and bodies on the Department of Finance website. This opportunity will allow you to develop experience in governance and the PGPA framework along with developing IT skills in relation to content management and supporting systems.

Skills and experience

• Sound relationship building skills.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• Excel skills including the development of spreadsheets, tables and graphs.
• Good analytical skills are desirable.
• An understanding or ability to learn governance arrangements and the PGPA framework.

Position duration
Temporary movement at level or temporary higher duties will be considered for up to 6 to 12 months, pending possible permanent filling.

How to express your interest
To express your interest please send your CV and a statement of claims to PGPA@finance.gov.au by 5pm Friday 15 October 2021.

For information or questions about this role please contact Kim-Louise Benning on 02 6215 3656 or email your questions to kim-louise.benning@finance.gov.au.

It’s peak Annual Report writing time! Be sure to check the Annual Reporting FAQs on the Finance website to answer any questions you may have.