The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has called for a whole-of-Government policy on gifts and benefits, including a central registry, regular reviews and public transparency by publishing details on the internet.
In its latest interim report on key financial controls of major Australian Public Service (APS) entities, the ANAO said it saw merit in developing such a policy, which would promote good practice across Commonwealth entities.
“A gifts and benefits policy incorporating regular review and monitoring increases accountability, while transparency would be enhanced through the publication of entity gifts and benefits registers on the internet,” the ANAO said.
“The maintenance of a central register may assist entities in meeting accountability and transparency obligations.”
It said the acceptance of a gift or benefit that was connected with a person’s employment could create a real or apparent conflict of interest and a number of State and Territory Governments provided guidance within their jurisdictions on the minimum requirements for acceptance, retention, reporting and monitoring of gifts and benefits.
“There (is) no whole-of-Government guidance issued to Commonwealth entities that detail the minimum requirements to report,” the ANAO said.
It said it had also found a drop-off in the mandatory reporting of non-compliance with finance laws following changes to the rules in 2015–16.
Prior to 2015–16, the ANAO said, entities were required to submit an annual Certificate of Compliance to the Minister for Finance and the responsible Minister summarising all non-compliance with the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act (PGPA) Framework.
“From 2015–16, the Department of Finance changed the compliance reporting process to require entities to report only significant non-compliance,” it said
‘The ANAO has noted that there are divergent practices in respect to determining the significance of identified non-compliance breaches.”
It said there was evidence that some entities were reducing the level of internal reporting of non-compliance.
“The Department of Defence was the only entity to report an instance of significant non-compliance with finance law in their 2016–17 annual report,” it said
The ANAO’s 222-page report, Interim Report on Key Financial Controls of Major Entities, can be accessed at this PS News link.
