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Financial Reporting and Accounting Policy

This website contains links to the relevant accounting policy and financial reporting requirements for Australian Government Entities and central government reporting. It includes Finance Minister's Orders (FMOs) and related Policies and Guidance for Financial Reports such as FinanceBriefs.

Accounting Policy

Accounting Reporting Policy

• 2011 - 2012 Finance Minister's Orders for Financial Reporting (incorporating policy and guidance) and summary of changes
• 2011 - 2012 PRIMA Forms of Financial Statements (Annexure A to the Finance Minister's Orders)
  • 'PRIMA Forms' detail the required disclosures for the financial reports of Australian Government Entities.
• 2011 - 2012 PRIMA Illustrative Financial Statements
• 2011 - 2012 PRIMA Model Financial Statements
• FMOs User Guide
  • The User Guide provides guidance on applying the FMOs and PRIMA to prepare financial statements.
• For consultation:
• Draft Accounting Guidance Note – Appropriations Reporting [709 KB]
  The consultation period is now closed.
• FMOs and PRIMA documents from previous reporting periods

Accounting Policy Guidance

• FinanceBriefs
• Accounting Guidance Notes
• Changes to Standards Relevant to 2010–11 Financial Statements
  • Changes to Standards Relevant to 2010–11 Financial Statements Word version [ 60 KB]
  • Changes to Standards Relevant to 2010–11 Financial Statements PDF version [ 202 KB]
  • This document will assist entities in disclosing the impact on their financial statements of new accounting standards for 2010-11 and future years, as required by AASB 108 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors. It will be issued in July each year. Agencies are responsible for ensuring that standards that are issued subsequent to this document, but prior to the signing of the financial statements, are disclosed as appropriate.
• Standard Parameters for use in Financial Statements for Financial Reporting Periods ending 30 June 2011 or 31 December 2011
• Standard Parameters for use in Financial Statements for Financial Reporting Periods ending 30 June 2011 or 31 December 2011 [ 73 KB]
• Standard Parameters for use in Financial Statements for Financial Reporting Periods ending 30 June 2011 or 31 December 2011 [ 96 KB]
• As per section 43.76G of the 2010-11 FMOs, the LSL - Table of Probability Factors and the LSL - Table of Discount Factors will be published on Finance’s website no later than July on an annual basis. 
• Third Balance Sheet Illustrative Example [ 39 KB]
  • This Illustrative example will assist entities in preparing their financial statements when they apply an accounting policy retrospectively or makes a retrospective restatement of items in their financial statements, or when they reclassify items in their financial statements as required by paragraph 10 (f) of AASB 101 Presentation of Financial Statements. Whist every care has been taken in the presentation of this example it is intended as guidance only. Specific queries in relation to the requirements of AASB 101 should be directed to accounting policy contacts.

CFO Forum

• CFO Forum
• CFO Forum email list
  The CFO Forum email list is used to communicate accounting and financial reporting issues to Commonwealth Government entities. To add representatives from your organisation to the mailing list, email: CFOForum@finance.gov.au
  

Financial Reporting

• Annual and monthly reporting processes
• Inter-agency transactions
• Functional Allocation
• Consistency and use of accounts
• Publication Standards
• CBMS
• Fiscal Balance
• Underlying Cash Balance

Disclaimer

Finance is committed to the accessibility publishing guidelines of WCAG2.0. Due to constraints in authoring tools used to develop content on this page, originally published September 2011, the page does not conform to the minimum WCAG2.0 Level A requirement. Finance is progressing toward full WCAG 2.0 conformance in line with the Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy. Current issues on this page include: pdf files without alternative formats. Please contact the Accounting Policy Branch via accountingpolicy@finance.gov.au if you require a different file type for accessibility reasons.

Contact for information on this page: Financial Reporting and Accounting Policy Contacts

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