The Queensland Audit Office has found that the financial statements of a slew of health-related entities were reliable with effective internal controls.
Included in the Audit Office’s report are the Department of Health and 16 Hospital and Health Services (HHSs), along with 13 Hospital Foundations, four other statutory bodies, and four controlled entities.
“The financial reports prepared by Queensland Health entities, hospital foundations, and the other statutory bodies are reliable and comply with relevant laws and accounting standards,” the Office said.
“All the HHSs’ annual reports were tabled on the statutory deadline of 30 September, which is an improvement in timeliness.”
However, the Office said there was still room to improve by progressively tabling annual reports as they were provided to the Minister, instead of waiting for all annual reports in the portfolio to be tabled at the same time.
“Internal controls are generally effective, though we identified some deficiencies in information systems controls. We have made recommendations to strengthen the security over information systems,” the Audit Office said.
“Sustainability has improved with guaranteed funding.”
It said the short-term financial position of the sector improved in 2021-22, with the HHSs having a combined operating surplus of $42 million (2020-21: $33 million).
“This was partly due to the Australian Government extending its minimum hospital funding guarantee in 2021-22, in recognition of the impact of COVID-19 on activity levels,” the Office said.
“HHSs also had access to the National Partnership Agreement (NPA) funding for the pandemic, which reduced the impact of COVID-19 financial pressures.”
It noted that 2022-23 would be a challenging year for HHSs with an increased likelihood of the Services reporting operating deficits as they returned to a funding model based on delivering against activity targets.
The Auditor General’s 49-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
