EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES NO 4 OF 1988
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE
Subsection 71(1) of the Audit Act 1901 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for carrying out the provisions of the Act. The attached Statutory Rules amend the Audit Regulations which were made pursuant to that provision.
Subsection 63C(2) of the Act provides that a body incorporated for a public purpose by an Ordinance may be declared by regulations made under subsection 71(1) of the Act to be an authority to which either Division 2 or Division 3 of Part XI of the Act applies, subject to any modifications made by the regulations to the relevant Division in its application to that authority.
Part XI of the Act sets out financial provisions concerning accounts, audit and annual reports that are designed to have common application to those public bodies to which Part XI is declared, either by regulation, or by an Act, to apply. Division 2 contains provisions which are appropriate to an authority which is required to keep accounts in accordance with commercial practice. Division 3 contains those provisions which are appropriate to an authority which is not required to keep its accounts in accordance with commercial practice.
The attached Statutory Rules:
(a) apply Division 3 of Part XI of the Act to the ACT Institute of Technical and Further Education;
(b) change the period to be covered by the first report of the ACT Gaming and Liquor Authority; and
(c) make certain changes as a consequence of the abolition of the ACT House of Assembly.
ACT Institute of Technical and Further Education
The ACT Institute of Technical and Further Education was established, with effect from 1 January 1988, by the ACT Institute of Technical and Further Education Ordinance 1987 (Ordinance No 71 of 1987).
The Institute is a body corporate, with perpetual succession. Accordingly, the Audit Regulations are amended to apply Division 3 of Part XI of the Act to the Institute. Given the powers and functions of the Institute it is appropriate that it should not be required to keep accounts in accordance with commercial practice.
However, in its application to the Institute it is proposed that Division 3 shall be modified as follows:
(a) Sections 63K and 63L of the Act are to apply to the Institute, as if
(i) a reference in those sections to moneys or assets included a reference to trust money or trust property, as appropriate; and
(ii) a reference in those sections to transactions etc includes a reference to transactions etc relating to trust moneys or trust property.
(b) Section 63M to provide that the annual reports for the Institute shall be in respect of the academic as opposed to the financial year.
(c) That details of any directions given under subsection 6(3) of the ACT Institute of Technical and Further Education Ordinance 1987 (Ordinance No 71 of 1987) by the appropriate Minister to the Institute shall be included in the Institute’s annual report.
ACT Gaming and Liquor Authority
Previously the Audit Regulations provided that, in its application to the ACT Gaming and Liquor Authority, section 63H of the Act required the ACT Gaming and Liquor Authority to provide a report on its operations for the period 30 June 1987 to 31 July 1987. Such a report could only be of limited value and would be virtually useless for comparative purposes. The Audit Regulations have been amended to require instead that the first report of the authority shall be in respect of the period 30 June 1987 to 30 June 1988.
ACT House of Assembly
Sections 63G and 63M of the Act require, inter alia, that authorities shall prepare annual reports of their operations during the year and submit those reports to the Minister who is responsible for the Act under which they were established. Section 63G applies to authorities which are required to maintain accounts in accordance with commercial practice. Section 63M applies to those authorities which are not required to keep their accounts in accordance with commercial practice.
A ‘standard’ modification of sections 63G and 63M in their application to various authorities is to require that the particular body shall table a copy of its annual report in the ACT House of Assembly as well as in both Houses of Parliament.
The ACT House of Assembly was abolished in 1986 when the House of Assembly Ordinance 1979 was repealed by the Advisory Council Ordinance 1986 (Ordinance No 62 of 1986).
The Audit Regulations have, therefore, been amended to delete references to the ACT House of Assembly.
Authority: Section 71 of the Audit Act 1901