Commonwealth Ombudsman Annual Report 2012—13 | Section 3
Section 3 Management and Accountability
Senior Management Team
The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Mr Colin Neave AM, took up his appointment on 17 September 2012. Ms Alison Larkins had acted as Ombudsman from 28 October 2011 to 14 September 2012.
Ms Larkins’ substantive position during this period was Deputy Ombudsman. This position remained vacant until 18 April 2012, when Mr George Masri was appointed acting Deputy Ombudsman.
On the appointment of Mr Neave in September 2012, Ms Larkins returned to her substantive position as Deputy Ombudsman and Mr Masri resumed his substantive position as Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Operations Branch.
Ms Larkins left the office on 21 November 2013 and Mr Masri was again appointed acting Deputy Ombudsman from 16 November 2012. Mr Masri was acting in the position at 30 June 2013.
L – R Doris Gibb, George Masri, Colin Neave, Lynette MacLean, Helen Fleming, Rodney Lee Walsh
The remuneration for the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman is set by a Determination made by the Remuneration Tribunal. See Note 11 in the Financial Statements for further details on executive remuneration.
At 30 June 2013 the areas of responsibility were divided among Senior Assistant Ombudsmen as follows.
Helen Fleming, Community Services and Legal Branch:
- specialist advice and complaints relating to the Department of Human Services (including Centrelink, Child Support and Medicare) and relevant policy departments
- specialist advice, complex or systemic complaints and stakeholder engagement relating to Indigenous matters
- management of internal review of complaint handling
- in-house legal and policy advice.
Lynette MacLean, Corporate Services Branch:
- corporate services and office support, comprising security, property, human resources, records management, governance, work practices and procedures
- financial operations, risk management and business planning
- media and public affairs
- information technology and communications infrastructure
- management of the office’s International Program and related AusAID projects.
Doris Gibb, Immigration and Overseas Students Branch:
- specialist advice, complex or systemic complaints and stakeholder engagement relating to DIAC
- oversight of immigration detention
- reviews of the circumstances of detainees who have been held in immigration detention for two years or longer (statutory reporting)
- specialist advice, complex or systemic complaints and stakeholder engagement from overseas students about private education and training providers.
Rodney Lee Walsh, Justice, Finance and Territories Branch:
- specialist advice, complex or systemic complaints and stakeholder engagement relating to the Australian Defence Force, Department of Defence, Defence Housing Australia and Department of Veterans’ Affairs
- specialist advice, complex or systemic complaints and stakeholder engagement to Australian Government law enforcement agencies’ activities
- inspection of law enforcement agencies’ records for statutory compliance, adequacy and comprehensiveness
- specialist advice, complex or systemic complaints and stakeholder engagement relating to the ACT Ombudsman function
- specialist advice, complex or systemic complaints and stakeholder engagement relating to Australia Post and registered postal operators of the Postal Industry Ombudsman scheme
- implementation of the Norfolk Island Ombudsman function.
Peter Edwards (acting), Operations Branch:
- point of contact for all approaches to the office made by telephone, email and online
- assessment and investigation of complaints about Commonwealth and ACT Government agencies and contracted service providers
- assessment and investigation of complaints about most private education providers
- identification of systemic issues and liaison with strategic branches about how to progress
- processing and decision making under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
- public interest disclosure – implementation, education and oversight
- operational work practices and procedures.
Corporate Governance
Our 2010 – 2013 Strategic Plan sets out our strategic objectives for the reporting period.
In 2012–13, following a major restructure and planning process in 2011–12, we proceeded with the implementation of a new organisational structure and began re-engineering our work practices. This has given us opportunities to direct resources more effectively towards strategic priorities and to review and consolidate our investigations and inspections work practices.
The staged implementation of the restructure began in early 2012–13 with the establishment of strategic and operational branches. Some benefits of the new structure are that it supports a more flexible response to variations in investigation and inspection workload demands across the office. It also allows for a greater focus on systemic issues, stakeholder engagement, and the development of proactive strategies for promoting better complaints resolution in government agencies generally.
We envisage that further changes will continue to be made during 2013–14 as we refine and settle the new structure and consequential changes to our work practices.
Management Committees
Management Committees assist the Executive and Senior Management team with decision making in key areas. The committees make recommendations to the Senior Management team, which meets monthly.
The restructure makes it timely to review our governance framework, including the committee structure and terms of reference. This will be a priority in 2013–14.
Senior Management Team
The Senior Management team comprises the Ombudsman, the Deputy Ombudsman and Senior Assistant Ombudsmen. It meets monthly to discuss a broad range of issues relating to the work of the office.
Audit Committee
As required by the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, we have an Audit Committee. The committee’s role is to review and, where necessary, make improvements to the:
- adequacy of our governance arrangements (the internal control environment)
- operational effectiveness of our risk management framework
- adequacy of controls designed to ensure we comply with legislation
- content of reports on internal and external audits (for the purpose of identifying relevant material and advising the Ombudsman about good practices)
- adequacy of our response to reports of internal and external audits
- coordination of our work programs relating to internal and external audits, as far as possible.
In addition, the Audit Committee advises the Ombudsman on the:
- action to be taken on significant matters of concern, or significant opportunities for improvement, that are mentioned in reports on internal and external audits
- preparation and review of our financial statements
- Ombudsman’s obligations under the Act
- internal audit plans of the office
- professional standards to be used by internal auditors in the course of carrying out audits in the office.
At 1 July 2012 the Audit Committee was chaired by the Deputy Ombudsman. In addition to the Chair, membership comprised three Senior Executive Service officers and two external independent members. Observers included our Chief Financial Officer and representatives from the Australian National Audit Office and PricewaterhouseCoopers (our internal auditors).
In August 2012 the membership of the Audit Committee was reviewed and amended. It now consists of a minimum of three and a maximum of five members appointed by the Ombudsman. At least one member of the committee must be an independent member, and the Chair must also be independent. The Deputy Ombudsman is the Deputy Chair of the committee.
During 2012–13, the Audit Committee actively monitored the office’s progress in implementing changes to our work practices and corporate governance activities.
Work Health and Safety Committee
Our Work Health and Safety Committee comprises elected staff representatives from each of our state and Canberra offices. It is chaired by the Assistant Director, Human Resources (who represents management), and it met four times during the year. The committee’s focus during 2012–13 was on facilitating workstation assessments for staff and biannual workplace inspections of all our offices to ensure we complied with our duty to provide a safe workplace under the terms of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
Workplace Relations Committee
The Deputy Ombudsman chairs the Workplace Relations Committee. It comprises employee, management and union representatives, and is the main consultative body on workplace conditions within the office. The committee met three times during the year and considered matters such as human resources policies, learning and development, change management and workplace issues.
Corporate governance practices
The office’s management of risk is overseen by the Audit Committee. Our risk management framework comprises an overarching risk management policy, a strategic risk plan and a strategic risk register. The Senior Management team regularly reviews strategic risks as part of the business planning process.
We continue to participate in the annual Comcover Risk Management Benchmarking Survey, which independently assesses our risk management arrangements.
Fraud prevention and control
In March 2013 we reviewed and updated our Fraud Control Plan (which is overseen by the Audit Committee) and fraud risk assessment. The risk of fraud remains low for the office.
Certification of Fraud Control Arrangements
I certify that the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (the Office) has:
- prepared fraud risk assessments and fraud control plans;
- appropriate fraud prevention, detection, investigation, reporting and data collection procedures and processes that meet the specific needs of the Office;
- taken all reasonable measures to minimise the incidence of fraud in the Office and to investigate and recover the proceeds of fraud against the Office.
Colin Neave
Commonwealth Ombudsman
13 September 2013
Ethical standards
We maintained our commitment to ethical standards by ensuring staff were aware of the Australian Public Service (APS) Values and Code of Conduct. In June 2013 we held awareness-raising sessions with staff in preparation for the implementation of the new APS Values and Employment Principles and changes to the Code of Conduct from 1 July 2013.
Business continuity planning
The purpose of our Business Continuity Plan is to ensure that our most critical work can continue with minimal disruption, or be quickly resumed, in the event of a disaster. We reviewed our Business Continuity Plan in 2011–12 and again in 2012–13, along with the associated Disaster Recovery Plan. The purpose of the review was to ensure that, in light of our recent restructure and work practice changes, both the Business Continuity Plan and the Disaster Recovery Plan continued to meet our critical business requirements and we would maintain our ability to function.
Complaint management
We have an established internal complaints and review process, which allows reviews about Ombudsman decisions and complaints about service quality to be resolved fairly and informally. In 2011–12 we evaluated our practices against our own Better Practice Guide to Complaint Handling.
During 2012–13 we began considering and implementing the review outcomes with a view to further improving our complaint handling processes, and our processes for accepting and monitoring complaints about our service delivery. In the last half of 2012–13, this included preparatory work to establish a committee to oversee various work practice and business improvement changes, and the preparation of new training presentations for staff. Our complaints mechanism is set out in our Service Charter and there is more information about the review process in Chapter 2.
Accessibility
In developing and maintaining our websites, we use the priority 1 and 2 checkpoints of the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as the benchmark. Activities to ensure compliance include testing colour contrast for the vision impaired, limiting the use of graphics, simplifying navigation and providing a site map, separating document formatting from content with style sheets, providing text equivalents for non-text elements, and improving metadata.
We implemented an action plan in late December 2012 to ensure we comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (AA Level) by December 2014. The plan includes measures to address any technical limitations of our current information and communications technology systems that may impede AA level compliance.
Ecological and Environmental Performance
We are required by s 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 to report on certain environmental matters. Our Office Environmental Management Policy helps us to manage our activities and detail our performance and contribution to environmental protection and ecological sustainability.
Our environmental impact is primarily through office-based energy consumption, paper resources and waste management and our performance in these areas is set out below in more detail.
Energy consumption
We reduced our energy consumption during the year by 10.7%, although consumption of megajoules per person increased by 2.1% due to the reduction in the average staffing level for the year.
Our Environmental Management Policy promotes and encourages:
- staff to turn office lights off at the end of each day in their work area and in other areas of the office that are not being used
- minimisation of energy consumption through mechanisms such as default settings that turn off office lights and air conditioning at predetermined times
- environmental awareness via our intranet to inform employees about energy and environmental issues, office initiatives and tips to save energy.
Paper resources
We manage an electronic database to reduce the volume of paper records and photocopier usage. In addition, all of our paper supplies are either manufactured from at least 50% recycled products or they are carbon neutral. Other office materials, such as files, are recycled within the office to minimise the volume of stationery we use.
Waste management
We actively manage the waste we produce through several mechanisms:
- recycling bins are provided in all offices to encourage recycling of office waste, such as paper and cardboard packaging
- toner cartridges are recycled
- kitchen waste, such as plastic bottle and cans, is recycled via special bins provided in break-out areas.
External Scrutiny
Court litigation
The office was the respondent in two matters brought before the Courts.
In the first matter, before the Federal Court, the applicant sought an order that the Ombudsman apologise for deciding not to investigate his complaint. The applicant discontinued the action against the Ombudsman before the matter was determined by the Court.
In the second matter, before the Federal Magistrates Court, the applicant sought orders relating to alleged discrimination in connection with her employment. The action was discontinued by the applicant following settlement.
Tribunal litigation
The office was not involved in any tribunal litigation during 2012–13.
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
The office has been advised of three matters where applicants have sought review by the Information Commissioner of decisions under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), and of one complaint to the Information Commissioner under the FOI Act. The Information Commissioner has not investigated any of these matters.
In addition, we are awaiting a decision from the Information Commissioner in relation to two reviews that began in 2011–12.
In 2012–13 we obtained a Vexatious Applicant Declaration under Part VIII of the FOI Act in relation to an applicant who had made frequent requests under the FOI Act for personal information relating to Ombudsman staff.
The office is subject to the Privacy Act 1988 and we provide information required for the Personal Information Digest. The Privacy Commissioner did not issue any report or make any adverse comment about the office during the past year.
Australian Human Rights Commission
The office is subject to the jurisdiction of the Australian Human Rights Commission but no complaints were made to the commission about the office in 2012–13.
People Management
Workplace relations
Our Enterprise Agreement 2011 – 2014 came into effect on 27 July 2011 and will reach its nominal expiry date on 30 June 2014. The Enterprise Agreement focuses on people, remuneration and employment arrangements, working environment and lifestyle, learning and development, and performance management and improvement.
A total of 152 employees are covered under the Enterprise Agreement. Conditions are provided for our five Senior Executive Service (SES) staff under section 24 (1) of the Public Service Act. No staff were employed under Australian Workplace Agreements or common law contracts. There was one Individual Flexibility Agreement.
The Enterprise Agreement does not make provision for performance pay. Salary advancement within each of the non-SES classifications is linked to performance. Determinations under section 24 (1) of the Public Service Act provide for SES annual salary advancement based on performance and do not make provision for performance pay. During the year, the office undertook a review of its SES remuneration arrangements.
Staffing profile
Including the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman, the average full-time-equivalent number of employees for the year was 141.42 and the full-time-equivalent number of employees at 30 June 2013 was 145.84.
Table 3.1 shows the number of employees by gender, APS classification and salary range. Table 3.2 shows our staffing profile by location, while Table 3.3 and Table 3.4 show our part-time employee profile by location and classification respectively.
During the year, 20 employees were engaged on an ongoing basis and 17 ongoing employees left the office, equating to a turnover rate of 12% (compared to 18% the previous year). There were 39 separations, including ongoing and non-ongoing employees.
Table 3.5 shows staff separations by classification at 30 June 2013.
Table 3.1: Staffing profile by gender, APS classification and salary range at 30 June 2013
APS classification and salary range | Men (at 30 June 2013) | Women (at 30 June 2013) | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ongoing | Non-ongoing | Ongoing | Non-ongoing | Ongoing | Non-ongoing | |||
At 30 June 2012 | At 30 June 2013 | At 30 June 2012 | At 30 June 2013 | |||||
Note 1: Under the enterprise agreement, employees moving to the office from a higher salary range may be maintained at that salary until increments in our salary range exceed the salary differential. Note 2: APS = Australian Public Service; EL = Executive Level; SES = Senior Executive Service | ||||||||
APS1 $42,434 – $46,903 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
APS2 $48,025 – $53,255 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
APS3 $54,702 – $59,041 | 4 | – | 8 | 1 | 2 | 12 | – | 1 |
APS4 $60,967 – $66,194 | 9 | – | 14 | 3 | 29 | 23 | – | 3 |
APS5 $67,999 – $72,105 | 7 | – | 14 | 1 | 22 | 21 | – | 1 |
APS6 $73,445 – $84,366 | 10 | – | 18 | 1 | 29 | 28 | – | 1 |
EL1 $94,152 – $109,723 | 17 | – | 26 | – | 43 | 43 | 1 | |
EL2 $109,627 – $130,514 | 7 | 2 | 11 | – | 17 | 18 | – | 2 |
SES $170,781 – $185,400 | 2 | – | 3 | – | 5 | 5 | – | – |
Statutory officers | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – |
TOTAL | 57 | 2 | 94 | 6 | 148 | 151 | 1 | 8 |
Table 3.2: Staffing profile by location at 30 June 2013
Location | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
ACT | 44 | 72 | 116 |
NSW | 2 | 8 | 10 |
QLD | 2 | 5 | 7 |
SA | 5 | 5 | 10 |
VIC | 4 | 9 | 13 |
WA | 2 | 1 | 3 |
TOTAL | 59 | 100 | 159 |
Table 3.3: Staffing profile showing part-time employees by location at 30 June 2013
Location | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
ACT | 6 | 20 | 26 |
NSW | – | 2 | 2 |
QLD | 1 | 2 | 3 |
SA | – | 2 | 2 |
VIC | – | 4 | 4 |
WA | – | – | – |
TOTAL | 7 | 30 | 37 |
Table 3.4: Staffing profile showing part-time employees by classification at 30 June 2013
Location | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
APS1 | – | – | – |
APS2 | – | – | – |
APS3 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
APS4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
APS5 | – | 9 | 9 |
APS6 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
EL1 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
EL2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
SES | – | – | - |
TOTAL | 7 | 30 | 37 |
Table 3.5: Staffing profile showing staff separations by classification at 30 June 2013
APS classification | Ongoing | Non-ongoing | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
APS1 | - | - | - |
APS2 | - | 3 | 3 |
APS3 | - | 10 | 10 |
APS4 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
APS5 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
APS6 | 3 | - | 3 |
EL1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
EL2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
SES | 2 | - | 2 |
Statutory office holders | 1 | - | 1 |
TOTAL | 17 | 22 | 39 |
Career development and training
Our learning and development framework is based on three elements: leadership, corporate and core business programs.
Each staff member is encouraged to undertake learning and development programs that are designed to promote their capability in relation to their corporate and core business training and development.
We have employed the services of an external provider to prepare a comprehensive Learning and Development Strategy which will ensure that learning is aligned with current and future business needs and meets strategic needs while creating the opportunity to be an employer of choice. Focus groups commenced on 1 May 2013 and the strategy is due for completion in July 2013.
We are currently rolling out a suite of training programs to address identified training needs throughout the office, and we had delivered nine training programs by 30 June 2013.
In the past we have delivered a suite of 11 in-house training modules designed specifically to develop core competencies and skills in investigations, inspections, writing, administrative law, office practices and record keeping. These modules are currently being evaluated and updated and will be delivered regularly in accordance with our revised Learning and Development Strategy.
We also support staff to undertake relevant study at tertiary institutions through study leave and/or financial assistance.
Work health and safety
During the first half of the year, no accidents or injuries occurred that are reportable under section 38 (5) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the WHS Act) and we did not conduct any investigations under Part 10 of the WHS Act.
All new employees are advised of the importance and responsibilities of staff and management for health and safety in the workplace during their induction and are required to complete the e-learning module on the work health and safety laws and responsibilities. New employees undertake a workstation assessment during their first week with the office. Employees who work from home complete a Working from Home Application form to assess the need for workplace inspections.
A Work Health and Safety Officer (WHSO) or Deputy WHSO is located at each office site. The WHSOs or Deputy WHSOs manage workplace health and safety matters through the Occupational Health and Safety Committee, regular staff meetings or by seeking assistance from an officer under the WHS Act. All WHSOs and Deputy WHSOs have undertaken relevant training post-implementation of the WHS Act.
During 2012–13 we undertook a number of health and safety initiatives. We:
- arranged health assessments, where necessary
- conducted individual workplace assessments
- facilitated eye examinations, where necessary
- made first aid facilities and supplies available, and provided first aid training to first aid officers (refresher and senior first aid for new officers)
- provided workplace health and safety training to WHSOs and Deputy WHSOs
- conducted regular simulated fire evacuations
- targeted individual health awareness by providing flu vaccinations to employees free of charge, a healthy lifestyle reimbursement of up to $299 per year, individual health assessments and mental health first aid training
- invited all employees to participate in Dealing with Stress in the Workplace workshops
- delivered in-house workstation ergonomics training for our human resources staff and executive assistants.
We encourage the participation of staff and their families in our health and wellbeing programs. For the fifth consecutive year, we entered a team in the Stromlo Running Festival Corporate Challenge, held in February. This year proved to be another successful event for the office, with a significant number of staff and their families and friends participating, and we were very proud to be overall winners on the day.
To promote a supportive working environment, we provide staff and their immediate families with access to an Employee Assistance Program. This program offers a confidential counselling service, facilitation of teamwork issues, career advice and the management of any work-related or personal issues.
Changes to disability reporting
Since 1994 Australian Government departments and agencies have reported on their performance as policy adviser, purchaser, employer, regulator and provider under the Commonwealth Disability Strategy. In 2007–08 reporting on the employer role was transferred to the Australian Public Service Commission’s State of the Service Report and the APS Statistical Bulletin. These reports are available at www.apsc.gov.au. Since 2010–11, departments and agencies have no longer been required to report on these functions.
The Commonwealth Disability Strategy has been overtaken by a new National Disability Strategy 2010 – 2020 which sets out a 10-year national policy framework to improve the lives of people with disability, promote participation, and create a more inclusive society. A high-level, two-yearly report will track progress against each of the six outcome areas of the strategy and present a picture of how people with disability are faring. The first of these reports will be completed in 2014 and will be available at www.fahcsia.gov.au.
The Social Inclusion Measurement and Reporting Strategy agreed by the Australian Government in December 2009 will also include some reporting on disability matters in its regular How Australia is Faring report and, if appropriate, in strategic change indicators in agency annual reports. More information about social inclusion matters can be found at www.socialinclusion.gov.au.
Agency Multicultural Plan
This year we acquired responsibilities under the Commonwealth Multicultural Access and Equity Policy, Respecting diversity. From April 2013 we began preparing an Agency Multicultural Plan to address our multicultural access and equity obligations over the period 2013–2015. We will start implementing our finalised multicultural plan from 1 July 2013.
Financial Management
Financial performance
The 2012–13 financial year brought a level of stabilisation to our staffing and financial management with a decrease in average staffing levels from the 2011–12 financial year. An organisational restructure in September 2012 enabled us to better direct our existing resources to demands. Our Adelaide staff relocated to new premises at the beginning of July 2012.
We recorded an operating surplus attributable to the Australian Government of $457,000 (including depreciation and amortisation). The main driver of this variance was a reduction in employee expenses ($520,000) and contractors and consultancies ($290,000).
Our underspend was also affected by the Efficiency Measure of $89,000 announced in November 2012 and the mechanism for effecting the measure which did not formally reduce the appropriation for 2012–13 but prevented agencies from using the funds.
Expenses
We reduced total expenses from $23.385 million in 2011–12 to $20.214 million in 2012–13. The main factors contributing to this reduction are below.
- Employee benefits decreased significantly from $17.2 million in 2011–12 to $14.4 million in 2012–13. This was primarily due to a planned reduction in the number of staff due to a reduction in appropriation revenue. The reduction to staff numbers commenced in 2011–12 with realisation of the impact over a full year in 2012–13. The average staffing level decreased by 23.0 (from 158.4 in 2011–12 to 135.4 in 2012–13). The reduction was marginally offset by a 2% salary increase under the Enterprise Agreement and an increase to the notional cost of the superannuation scheme.
- Supplier expense reduced by $352,000 across several expense categories during 2012–13 in response to the overall reduction to appropriation revenue. The main contributors were:
- travel (reduced by $156,000) due to fewer trips
- legal expenses (reduced by $123,000)
- other expenses (reduced by $93,000) due to less activity in public affairs
- media related (reduced by $89,000) due to reduced media monitoring and the cancellation of client surveys
- The reduction in supplier costs was partially offset by a significant increase in workers’ compensation costs which rose from $163,000 in 2011–12 to $274,000 in 2012–13.
- Write down and impairment of assets increased by $20,000 reflecting a debt write off in relation to the International program. The annual impairment test resulted in $26,000 in property plant and equipment and $22,000 of intangible assets being written off due to obsolescence.
Income
Our sale of goods and rendering of services revenue increased by $267,000 over the year due to:
- a memorandum of understanding with Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to establish a noise complaint mechanism for Australian Super Hornet flying operations at RAAF Amberley ($60,000)
- a memorandum of understanding with the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate to review the exercise of powers under specified parts of the Fair Work Building Industry Act 2012 ($150,000)
- a minor increase in activity in the AusAid program.
Appropriation revenue decreased by $1.693 million due to the termination measures for funding of the Northern Territory Emergency Response ($900,000) and Christmas Island oversight ($400,000) and the impact of the 2.5% Efficiency Dividend ($500,000).
Financial position
Assets
Our financial assets increased by $868,000 reflecting an increase in appropriation receivable for the year. The increase was due to funding received as Departmental Capital Budget ($609,000) that was not spent, and the impact of the operating surplus.
Non-financial assets decreased by $639,000 due to an underspend in capital asset additions and a reduction to prepayments of $186,000.
Liabilities
Our total payables reduced by $608,000 over the year due to:
- a reduction in supplier payables of $506,000. The 2011–12 supplier payables included accruals for the leasehold improvement works in Adelaide ($208,000) and the costs associated with the recruitment of the Ombudsman
- a reduction in unearned income due to part of the AusAID grant program being funded in arrears whereas it was funded in advance in 2011–12
- the lease payment for the Canberra office. An additional increase of $255,000 relates to the mandated accounting method (straight lining) for the new Adelaide and Sydney building leases.
Our provisions decreased by $229,000 reflecting the reduction in average staffing levels that was partially offset by the impact of the Enterprise Agreement increase and a change in the discount factor applied to long service leave calculations.
Purchasing
We are committed to achieving the best value for money in our procurement activity. Our procurement practices are consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules and are set out in the Chief Executive Instructions. During the 2012–13 financial year, we adopted the Department of Finance and Deregulation standard process for procurement under $80,000 to ensure compliance with best practice and consistency across government.
We published our Annual Procurement Plan on AusTender to facilitate early procurement planning and to draw attention to our planned procurement for the financial year.
Consultants
During 2012–13 we entered into three new consultancy contracts with a total actual expenditure of $74,465 (including GST). There were no ongoing consultancy contracts that were active during the 2012–13 year.
We did not let any contracts containing provisions that do not allow the Auditor-General to have access to the contractor’s premises, and we did not exempt any contracts from being published on AusTender.
Annual reports contain information about actual expenditure on contracts for consultancies. Information on the value of contracts and consultancies is available on the AusTender website at www.tenders.gov.au.
We do not administer any grant programs.
Table 3.6: Expenditure on consultancy contracts 2010–11 to 2012–13
Year | Number of consultancy contracts | Total actual expenditure |
|---|---|---|
2012–13 | 3 | $74,465 |
2011–12 | 7 | $251,010 |
2010–11 | 7 | $185,691 |
Advertising and market research
The office did not undertake any market research activities or advertising campaigns during the 2012–13 financial year.