PGPA Newsletter 77

A new Flipchart and List of PGPA Act Commonwealth entities and companies were issued on 2 March 2022.

Both the Flipchart and the List have been updated as follows:

• Moorebank Intermodal Company Limited has been renamed National Intermodal Corporation Limited, reflecting Government’s decision to expand the objects of the company beyond Moorebank, New South Wales; and
• The entry for the Professional Services Review Scheme has been amended to the “Professional Services Review” to align with the name as prescribed for the listed entity in the Health Insurance Act 1973.

In addition, on the Flipchart, the corresponding symbol from the Key of symbols has been added to the four parliamentary departments to indicate that they do not engage staff under the Public Service Act 1999. Employees in all four parliamentary departments are employed under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999.

Further detail on this update is available in the Table of Changes for 2021-22. Here are the latest versions of the Flipchart and its associated List of Commonwealth entities and companies.

Feedback on the Flipchart and List and how you use these tools are always welcome and can be sent to PGPA@finance.gov.au.

Finance is working towards establishing all entity access to the Digital Annual Reporting Tool for the 2021-22 annual report process at the beginning of April 2022.

Existing individual user access arrangements and the report heading structures from the 2020-21 annual report process will be rolled over to your entity DART instance for reporting cycle 2021-22, unless we are notified otherwise. User access and report structure can be adjusted by administrators once access is established.

The process for adjusting these details prior to the 2021-22 roll out was emailed to all digital annual report contacts on Wednesday 2 March 2022. If your entity annual report coordinator did not receive this email, please contact us at DigitalAnnualReportProject@finance.gov.au as soon as possible. To assist us to have the system available by the beginning of April 2022, any requests for change will need to be provided to the team by no later than COB Thursday 10 March 2022.

Please contact us at DigitalAnnualReportProject@finance.gov.au if you have any questions or check out our GovTEAMs community: Digital Annual Reports.

A revised RMG-134 Annual performance statements for Commonwealth entities is available on the Finance website.

This RMG has been enhanced using a digital first approach which provides ease of access to information you require when preparing and publishing corporate plans.  The reporting requirements for annual performance statements have not changed.

Please direct any questions to pgpa@finance.gov.au.

RMG-116, RMG-122 and RMG-125 have been updated and enhanced to support a digital ready, accessible format. Content changes in the RMGs are outlined below:

RMG-116 Accounting for annual appropriations

• Extracts of the FRR have been removed, however references to the relevant sections in the FRR have been retained.
• Further detail on the additional disclosures required in the Appropriation notes.
• Clarification around the authority for the allocation of Advances to the Finance Minister.
• Additional references to other useful RMGs have been included.

RMG-122 Disclosure of current and non-current assets and liabilities in financial statements

• Disclosure of maturity information
• Additional information on AASB 101 Presentation of Financial Statements requirements
• Clarifies application to both Tier 1 and Tier 2 entities

RMG-125 Commonwealth Entities Financial Statements Guide

• Content has been streamlined or relocated, for example, the glossary and acronyms have been combined into a single document.
• Extracts of the FRR have been removed, however references to the relevant sections in the FRR have been retained.
• Updates have been made to reflect the simplified disclosure requirements for Tier 2 entities under AASB 1060.
• Clarification of the disclosure requirements for leases.
• Clarification on the presentation of income, expenses and changes in equity in a separate statement of comprehensive income and statement of changes in equity.
• Additional or updated information on:
  • considerations when preparing financial statements, including applying professional judgement
  • events after the reporting date
  • materiality, including updated references to the Australian National Audit Office’s updated auditing standard
  • what are administered and departmental items (see also EM2021/34 Classification of Administered and Departmental Items)
  • use of electronic signatures in certifications
  • fair value measurement of administered investments
  • recognition of transfers to the Official Public Account.

Should you have any questions regarding these RMGs, please email AccountingPolicy@finance.gov.au.

The 2022 Comcover Education Program is now open for enrolments. 

Comcover’s risk education program has been developed to target four levels of desired capability for Australian Public Service officials: 

• Foundation –Encourages all Commonwealth officials, regardless of level or role to understand the basic risk management concepts of how risk is managed in the Commonwealth;
   
• Generalist – Supports Commonwealth officials, regardless of level, whose role requires them to engage with and apply their entity's risk management framework to successfully deliver outcomes;
   
• Specialist - Assists job role specialists who are required to design, implement and embed an entity's risk management framework. Specialists facilitate generalists and executives to fulfil their risk management responsibilities; and
   
• Senior Executive Service - Help inform SES to recognise key and emerging risk management issues and demonstrate risk leadership by fostering a positive risk culture in their entity and across the Commonwealth.

Due to the success of our virtual workshops Comcover will continue running virtual workshops to allow everyone to participate across the country as well as our face-to-face workshops run in Canberra. Whilst we are continuing to work from home the face-to-face program may be adjusted to accommodate this requirement. We will keep participants informed of any changes in relation to delivery method or venue.

Our workshops for the first six months of 2022 are:

To enrol in the workshops and access more Comcover education opportunities please visit the Comcover Learning Centre at https://learningcentre.comcover.gov.au or call 1800-651-540 and select Option 2.

The Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre (the Centre) continues to deliver new guidance and tools, and improve its existing practical products to help Australian Government entities effectively deal with fraud. Recently the Centre reviewed its fraud risk assessment guidance materials based on new learnings and stakeholder feedback, and has released updated versions of the following guides and tools:  

• The Fraud Risk Assessment Leading Practice Guide – this provides officials working in risk management and fraud control with principles and methods pulled from fraud risk assessment practices across the Australian Government.
• The Fraud Risk Assessment Template – this can help record, assess and evaluate detailed/operational-level fraud risks in a consistent way.
• The Strategic Fraud Risk Profiling Tool – this is designed to help Australian Government officials prioritise effort by identifying parts of their organisation that are of higher risk of fraud.

The Centre also recently collaborated with international and Australian partners to release the latest International Public Sector Fraud Forum publication - A Guide to Pressure Testing. This guide is designed to help officials understand what pressure testing is and how it can benefit public bodies in their efforts to manage fraud and integrity risks. It pulls together leading pressure testing practice, frameworks and case studies developed by IPSFF member countries, to outline processes and methods that can be used by any Commonwealth entity to examine the effectiveness of their fraud controls.

This is also timely guidance ahead of the updated Commonwealth Risk Management Policy, which will come into effect from 1 July. The updated policy will require Commonwealth entities to regularly review the effectiveness of controls.

To request copies of the latest leading practice guidance and tools, please contact info@counterfraud.gov.au.

Did you know that EM 2022/09 for 2022-23 Portfolio Budget Statements, issued on 7 February 2022, includes the updated reporting template for non-financial performance reporting?

The new template reflects changed requirements following the release of the amended Finance Secretary Direction. Refer to Attachment C – 2022-23 PBS Word Template, ‘Table 2.X.3 Performance measures for Outcome X’ of EM2022/09 available via CBMS.