Why is performance information reported in the PBS?

Section 36 of the PGPA Act requires the accountable authority of a Commonwealth entity to prepare the Budget estimates covering the entity’s activities for each reporting period for the entity. The Budget estimates must comply with any directions which includes the Finance Secretary Direction for the PBS.

Budget estimates are prepared by those Commonwealth entities which receive funding through the annual Appropriation Acts (either directly or through a portfolio department). Budget estimates include the Portfolio Budget Statements (PBS), Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements (PAES) and Portfolio Supplementary Additional Estimates Statements (PSAES).

Section 2 of the PBS: Outcomes and planned performance details the expenses expected to be incurred by an entity in delivering the outcomes and programs. Related performance information is included so that Parliament and other key stakeholders understand the expected and planned performance results of activities undertaken with this expenditure.

The Performance reporting template in Section 2 of the PBS (Table 2.X.3, available under Tools and templates) provides a structured summary of an entity’s expected and planned performance results at the program level. 

There are 3 reporting periods included in the Table:

• expected performance results for the current year, that is the year that the Budget is being delivered (typically in May each year). This is based on performance information reported in the previous PBS
• planned performance results for the Budget year
• planned performance results for the forward estimates (the 3 years following the Budget year).

For examples on how to complete the performance reporting Table, see the Better practice examples.

The PGPA Rule sets out the details of how an entity’s performance in achieving its purposes will be measured and assessed for each reporting period covered by the entity’s corporate plan, through:

• specified performance measures which meet the requirements of section 16EA of the PGPA Rule, and
• specified targets for each of those performance measures for which it is reasonably practicable to set a target.

It is expected that performance measures presented in the PBS meet the requirements of section 16EA of the PGPA Rule to ensure consistency and alignment with the corporate plan and annual performance statements.

Each performance measure meets the requirements of section 16EA if, in the context of an entity’s purposes or key activities, they:

1. relate directly to one or more of those purposes or key activities
2. use sources of information and methodologies that are reliable and verifiable
3. provide an unbiased basis for the measurement and assessment of the entity’s performance
4. where reasonably practicable, comprise a mix of qualitative and quantitative measures
5. include measures of an entity’s outputs, efficiency and effectiveness if those things are appropriate measures of the entity’s performance, and
6. provide a basis for an assessment of the entity’s performance over time.

For detailed information on each of these requirements, see RMG-131 Developing performance measures.