28 October 2014 - Public Management Reform Agenda

Public Management Reform Agenda
Next steps – 19
28 October 2014
Stage 2 reforms
New
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The draft Resource Management Guide on Indemnities, guarantees or warranties
granted by the Commonwealth has been issued for comment by this Friday
31 October 2014.
The FAQs on the PMRA website have been updated.
Reform information for Commonwealth entities recently added to the PMRA GovDex
Community includes:
o GST Arrangements under the PGPA Act Discussion Paper;
o feedback on Performance Framework Discussion Paper;
o draft PGPA Financial Reporting Rule; and
o outcomes from PMRA Community of Practice, 18 September 2014 –
Accountable Authority Instructions and Internal Controls.
Coming up
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The resource management training tools that will be released in November are
the:
o Commonwealth Resource Management (CRM) eLearning Modules – modules 2
to 4 on the duties of officials and responsibilities in relation to the use of
public resources; and
o updated Resource Management and Budget (RMB) Training Program.
The PMRA Community of Practice events in November and December (more
information will be provided in the next newsletter):
o Resource management training resources – launch of the CRM eLearning
Modules and RMB Training Program – Monday 17 November.
o Other PGPA Act events that are being scheduled in Canberra, Sydney and
Melbourne will be advertised in the next PMRA newsletter.
The following rules, papers and guidance are being prepared:
o proposed rules and guidance on corporate planning and annual performance
statements will be made available to Commonwealth entities, including the
Planning and Reporting Steering Committee, for a short consultation period in
early November before submission to the JCPAA in mid November;
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o a final draft of the PGPA Commonwealth Entity Financial Reporting Rule
2014-15 (to replace the existing Finance Minister’s Orders (FMOs)) is expected to
be released for consultation by the end of November 2014;
o a draft estimates memorandum on the transfer of leave entitlement will be
circulated for consultation with entities in November;
o a tiered reporting paper will be distributed to the Planning and Reporting
Steering Committee for feedback out of session; and
o a concept paper on earned autonomy will potentially be released in early
2015 prior to a discussion paper.
The Public Governance and Resources Legislation Amendment Bill is being prepared
for introduction in the Spring sittings. The Bill will make amendments relating to
existing statutory provisions of a governance or resource management nature where
these have been identified as requiring modification or repeal.
Resource Management Guide No.414: Indemnities, guarantees or warranties granted by
the Commonwealth
A draft Resource Management Guide (RMG) providing guidance to non-corporate
Commonwealth entities on arrangements that create contingent liabilities has been
circulated to CFOs for comment and is available on the PMRA Govdex Community.
The draft RMG will provide guidance on section 60 of the PGPA Act and the Finance
Minister’s delegation of this power, with limitations, to accountable authorities of
non-corporate Commonwealth entities. The draft RMG will replace Financial
Management Guidance No.6 Guidelines for Issuing and Managing Indemnities, Guarantees,
Warranties and Letters of Comfort.
Feedback is due by cob this Friday 31 October 2014.
Reforming your Accountable Authority Instructions (AAIs)
The PGPA Act provides entities with the opportunity to review and improve internal
controls to support more efficient and effective use and management of public resources.
Entities can identify areas for reform by reviewing processes and requirements in their
AAIs and operational guidance and assessing these on the basis of risk to determine if
they are being managed appropriately.
The PMRA Govdex Community includes a blog on these matters, key outcomes from the
Community of Practice and details of changes entities have made to their AAIs as well as
checklists and risk assessment tools.
Feedback on the Enhanced Commonwealth Performance Framework discussion paper
and next steps
Thank you to all entities who provided a submission on the Enhanced Commonwealth
Performance Framework discussion paper. 72 submissions were received and an initial
review of the feedback reveals:
 strong support for all performance reporting to be consolidated in either entities’
corporate plans or portfolio budget statements; and
 some support for changing the parameters for which entities must produce portfolio
budget statements.
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More details on the feedback will be made available on the PMRA GovDex Community when
Finance’s analysis is complete.
The feedback is informing the development of rules and guidance to support corporate plans
and annual performance statements. The proposed corporate planning rule will:
 outline particular inclusions required in the plan (many elements are already
addressed in some entities’ existing corporate plans), however, it will not prescribe
the form or all of the contents of a corporate plan; and
 allow for 2015-16 corporate plans to be published after 1 July 2015.
The proposed guidance material will:
 describe the overarching performance framework: what it intends to achieve; the
core elements, their purpose, and how the elements relate to each other; and
 advise entities how to measure the performance of public sector programmes and
activities and the variety of outputs that entities produce.
Next steps: The proposed rules and guidance will be made available to all Commonwealth
entities for a further short consultation period before Finance submits the rules and
guidance to the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) in the week starting
17 November 2014. Despite the short time for entities to consider the proposed rules and
guidance before they are submitted to the JCPAA, there will be further scope to refine the
rules and guidance while the JCPAA inquiry occurs.
The initial plan was to have the corporate planning rule in place by the end of 2014 to give
Commonwealth entities sufficient time to incorporate the new requirements for the
2015-16 financial year. It is anticipated that this rule will be finalised in early 2015.
However, the availability of the draft rule in November should provide Commonwealth
entities with a basis to begin planning.
PGPA Commonwealth Entity Financial Reporting Rule 2014-15
For 2014-15 Commonwealth entities are required to prepare financial statements in
accordance with the Australian Accounting Standards and the PGPA Financial Reporting Rule
(FRR) (that will replace the Finance Minister’s Orders (FMOs)).
The following documents have been given to the PMRA Planning and Reporting Steering
Committee for consideration (available to Commonwealth entities on the PMRA GovDex
Community):
 the draft PGPA FRR (for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2014); and
 a summary of proposed changes from the FMOs to the draft FRR.
Based on feedback received, a final draft of the FRR is expected to be released for further
consultation by the end of November 2014. If you have any questions on the proposed FRR
please contact [email protected].
Further reform information
The PMRA GovDex Community has been established to support improved planning,
performance, monitoring, evaluation and accountability in the Commonwealth public
sector by enabling entities to share resource management resources. Officials of all
Commonwealth entities are welcome to join the PMRA GovDex Community. If you are not
a member and would like to join, please contact [email protected].
Any other questions about the reform process, please contact us at [email protected].
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