Monthly Financial Reporting
Monthly financial statements are prepared by the Commonwealth for several reasons:
- Monthly reporting enables the delivery of actual results against the budget and is a good opportunity to utilise the benefits associated with accrual budgeting and reporting by:
- Delivering reports on accrual measures such as operating result and financial position as well as the use of cash;
- Being an integral component in forming the annual Consolidated Financial Statements; and
- Providing an important budget tracking mechanism for the government.
- The Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 requires that the Minister for Finance and Administration publish monthly financial statements in a form consistent with the Budget estimates, as soon as practicable after the end of each month.
- The International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), to which the Commonwealth has subscribed, requires central governments to publish financial statements on a monthly basis; within one month of the period close; and on a basis consistent with that reported in the annual Budget. Under accrual accounting, the IMF has granted some flexibility in the release of June and July monthly statements to allow for the release of the FBO by end September.
- The Commonwealth's monthly data is used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for inclusion in the Australian National Accounts.
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