Page 4423 - Week 10 - Thursday, 23 September 2010
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Paragraph 2.51 states:
The most common weaknesses in financial reports as identified by the audit included:
• errors in current or prior year figures
• failure to clearly and concisely explain the information being reported
• the use of inconsistent, inaccurate or irrelevant information
• the use of generic disclosures that were not tailored to the operations and/or transactions of the individual agency, and
• a lack of clear and concise explanatory information to assist readers …
Not getting the numbers right and failing to explain or using inconsistent, inaccurate or irrelevant information really does go to the heart of this, and I look forward to the government response because it is important that we do get right the quality of the statements. The auditor noted:
The combined proportion of statements rated … as ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ was down from 74 per cent … to 64 per cent …
The proportion of agencies that prepared ‘unsatisfactory’ statements of performance fell slightly from 22 per cent to 18 per cent …
Again, I think what it shows is that there truly is room for improvement.
Paragraph 2.62 states:
The following Territory entities did not meet their budgets during 2008–09:
• ACT Health
• ACTION
• ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat
• Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services
• Department of Justice and Community Safety
• Exhibition Park Corporation
• Land Development Agency, and
• Superannuation Provision Account.
Of course, if we are not meeting budgets and we are not reporting properly, we have to question why. If members are interested, at page 19, paragraph 3.2, the committee commented:
In summary, regarding the Territory’s financial report, the Audit commented that …
There is a continuing and significant risk that the Territory will incur large operating deficits over the next few years, particularly if unfavourable conditions persist in investment and property markets …
The Territory’s net asset position has improved—
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