Late Reports Agenda of Ordinary Council Meeting

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda

22 October 2024

8 General Manager’s Report

8.3 Finance

8.3.7 Lodgement of Financial Statements for year ended 30 June 2024

DOCUMENT NUMBER

424106

REPORTING OFFICER

Zac Mahon, Manager Finance

AUTHORISING OFFICER

Barry Paull, Interim Deputy General Manager - CCD

RELEVANCE TO COMMUNITY STRATEGIC PLAN

4. Good governance: an actively engaged community and strong leadership team

4.1 Decision-making is based on collaborative, transparent and accountable leadership

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no Financial implications associated with this report.

LEGISLATIVE IMPLICATIONS

To comply with section 413 of the Local Government Act, 1993.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Accounting Policies are detailed within the Financial Statements.

ATTACHMENTS

1. CGRC Draft Annual Financial Statements 2024 ⇩

Recommendation

1. The Mayor, Deputy Mayor, General Manager and Responsible Accounting Officer be delegated to sign the Statements by Council and Management for the 2024 General Purpose Financial Statements and 2024 Special Purpose Financial Statements for Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council.

2. The General Manager be authorised to issue the 2024 Financial Statements upon receipt of the auditor’s report, subject to there being no material changes a result of the audit.

Introduction

Section 413(2)(c) requires a resolution of Council that the annual financial statements have been prepared in accordance with;

· The Local Government Act, 1993 (as amended) and the Regulations made there under.

· The Australian Accounting Standard and professional pronouncements.

· The Local Government Code of Accounting Practice and Financial Reporting.

Further, that to the best of its knowledge and belief, the financial statements present fairly the operating result and financial position and accord with Council’s accounting and other records.

Section 418 of the Act requires that as soon as practicable after Council receives a copy of the auditor’s report, it must fix a date for a meeting to present the audited financial statements to the public, and it must make the financial statements available for public inspection for at least seven days prior to the meeting date.

Discussion

The statements have been finalised and are currently being audited with the goal of meeting the statutory deadline of 31 October 2024.

Unless there is a material change to the draft statements, this resolution will allow the statements to be lodged with the Office of Local Government as soon as the NSW Audit Office signs off on them.

At the November council meeting, the statements and auditors report will be presented to Council by a representative from the NSW audit office as per section 418 of the Act.

Potential Delays

Council is committed to ensuring that the statements are completed by the statutory deadline, but there is a possibility that the final statements may be delayed. To ensure that Council doesn’t breach their reporting obligations an extension request to 30 November 2024 has been submitted to the Office of Local Government.

Despite Council’s best efforts to engage consultants to complete the full revaluation for the Transport assets (roads, bridges, footpaths) for the 2024 financial year by commencing the process in October 2023 there has unfortunately been delays in finalizing this complex process. These delays in the finalisation of this key data meant that the final audit commencement date of September 1 was missed. Council finalised the revaluation and submitted the draft financial statements on 4 October 2024.

Looking forward, Council is being proactive to ensure that this issue will not occur again, by moving to a quarterly capitalisation process that will remove the end of financial year bottleneck and challenges of relying on external consultants. Council is investing internal staff resources and has implemented a skill development programme with regards to Asset Management. Council believes that investing in our staff and their skills will reduce or reliance on external consultants and give Council greater control of outcomes relating to Asset Registers and asset management systems which will remove impediments to the lodgement of financial statements by the due date on a consistent basis.