EXPLANATORY STATEMENT FOR MEMBERS
ISSUED WITH THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SUBJECT: AUDIT ACT 1901
FINANCE REGULATIONS
1988 NO. 80
Subsection 71(1) of the Audit Act 1901 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations (not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act) for carrying out the provisions of the Act.
Finance Regulation 6A, made under that provision, declares certain bodies (for example, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Industries Assistance Commission and the Trade Practices Commission) to be “prescribed authorities” for the purposes of the Act. As prescribed authorities, they are embraced by the definitions of “Department” in section 2 of the Act and subregulation 4(1) of the Finance Regulations.
The attached Statutory Rules amend Regulation 6A by adding the Corporate Affairs Commission (the Commission) to the list of bodies so prescribed. The Commission was established by the Corporate Affairs Commission Ordinance 1980 (No 43 of 1980) as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal. It operates as a branch of the Attorney-General’s Department as far as its financial transactions are concerned. Its expenditure is met from the appropriations of the Department and its receipts are credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund or the Trust Fund as appropriate. The Commission does not have the power to open bank accounts.
Declaration of the Commission as a prescribed authority serves to remove doubts, expressed by the Attorney-General’s Department, as to the Auditor-General’s power to audit all of the financial transactions of the Commission.