The Department of Finance has released a Lessons Learned paper on the annual performance statements published by Commonwealth entities under the enhanced Commonwealth Performance Framework.
In publishing its paper, Finance said the Framework aimed to improve the ‘line of sight’ between what was intended and what was delivered.
“Commonwealth entities and companies are required to prepare corporate plans at the beginning of the reporting cycle,” it said.
“At the end of the reporting cycle, entities are required to produce annual performance statements.”
It said the statements should provide the reader with a coherent and concise snapshot of an entity’s performance in meeting its purposes, and entities needed to present a narrative that demonstrated how effective they had been in meeting their purposes.
Its publication 2016–17 Annual Performance Statements: Lessons Learned showed the Commonwealth Performance Framework was made up of three interdependent elements: Purposes, Operating context, and Performance information used to demonstrate the achievement of purposes.
“As the Framework matures, it becomes more obvious that hard work at the front end of the performance cycle pays off at the back end in terms of the quality and insightfulness of performance information produced,” Finance said.
“This paper observes the quality of 2016–17 annual performance statements based on an analysis against defined criteria.”
It said that if a corporate plan contained poor performance criteria, it was hard for an entity to produce high-quality annual performance statements.
“Good annual performance statements will contain performance information that is sound and generated from a comprehensive suite of performance criteria.”
The Department said that where a direct impact-based performance measure was not possible, an entity could explain its performance using proxy measures.
It said an analysis of the entity’s operational environment could provide additional detail to fill any gaps in the performance narrative.
Finance’s 33-page Lessons Learned paper can be accessed at this PS News link.
