Fair Work (Registered Organisations), Reporting Guidelines for the Purposes of Section 270 – Fourth Edition (Cth)

Fair Work (Registered Organisations), (Reporting guidelines for the purposes of section 270 – fourth edition), Instrument, 2024

I, Murray Furlong, General Manager of the Fair Work Commission, make the following legislative instrument.

Dated 11 June 2024

Murray Furlong General Manager

Publication history:

First edition 20 June 2003

Second edition 12 October 2004

Third edition 4 May 2018

Contents 1 Name 2 Commencement 3 Authority 4 Definitions 5 Schedules 6 Reporting guidelines for the purposes of section 270 – fourth edition Schedule 1—Repeals Reporting guidelines for the purposes of section 270

1 Name This instrument is the FAIR WORK (REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS), REPORTING GUIDELINES FOR THE PURPOSES OF SECTION 270 – FOURTH EDITION.

2 Commencement This instrument commences on the day after this instrument is registered.

3 Authority This instrument is made under section 255 of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009.

4 Definitions In this instrument: Act means the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009. Regulations means the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Regulations 2009.

5 Schedules Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.

6 Reporting guidelines for the purposes of section 270 – fourth edition Application (1) These reporting guidelines apply to all financial reports that are held out to be general purpose financial reports (GPFR) as required to be prepared under subsection 270(4) of the Act by a reporting unit as defined in section 242 of the Act. Operative date (2) These reporting guidelines apply to each financial year of a reporting unit that begins on or after commencement. Purpose of reporting guidelines (3) These reporting guidelines apply for the purposes of section 270 of the Act. (4) Under subsection 270(4) of the Act a reporting unit to which a certificate has been issued by the General Manager of the Fair Work Commission (the General Manager) under subsection 270(1) in relation to a financial year, is required to have a GPFR prepared in accordance with these reporting guidelines. These reporting guidelines prescribe certain disclosure requirements having in mind the nature of organisations registered under the Act. (5) The disclosure requirements prescribed by these reporting guidelines are directed towards providing members of a reporting unit with information to enable them to gauge the performance of the committee of management and other holders of office in relation to the financial management of the reporting unit. General Purpose Financial Report (6) The GPFR required to be prepared under subsection 270(4) of the Act must consist of: (a) financial statements containing: (i) a statement of comprehensive income; (ii) a statement of financial position; and (iii) a cash flow statement. (b) notes to the financial statements containing information required by these reporting guidelines; (c) the expenditure report as required under subsection 255(2A) of the Act; and (d) a committee of management statement containing declarations by the committee of management required by these reporting guidelines. General requirements for presentation and disclosures in GPFR (7) If a GPFR of a reporting unit presents information for current or prior annual financial years that are not equal to twelve months, the reporting unit must disclose, in addition to the period covered by the GPFR: (a) the reason for a period other than twelve months being used; and (b) the fact that comparative amounts disclosed in the GPFR and related notes are not comparable where the lengths of the financial years differ. (8) Each component of the GPFR must be clearly identified. In addition, the following information must be prominently displayed and repeated when it is necessary for a proper understanding of the information presented: (a) the name of the reporting unit and any change in name from the preceding reporting date; (b) the reporting date or the period covered by each financial statement, as is appropriate; and (c) the rounding used in the presentation of amounts in the GPFR. (9) The notes to the financial statements must be presented in a systematic manner. Each item on the face of a financial statement must be cross-referenced to any directly related information in the notes. (10) The notes to the financial statements are normally presented in the following order which assists users in understanding the financial statements and comparing them with those of other reporting units: (a) summary of accounting policies; (b) supporting information for items presented on the face of the financial statements in the order in which each financial statement and each line item is presented; and (c) other disclosures, including: (i) contingencies, commitments and other financial disclosures; and (ii) non-financial disclosures. (11) The notes to the financial statements must disclose: (a) information about the basis of preparation of the financial statements and the specific accounting policies used that are relevant to an understanding of the financial statements; (b) additional information that is not presented in the financial statements and that is necessary to enable an assessment of the reporting unit's financial performance and financial position to be made; (c) any contingent liabilities specifying separately that for unsecured contingent liabilities and that for contingent liabilities secured upon the assets of the reporting unit; and (d) the notice required by subsection 272(5) of the Act drawing attention to subsections (1), (2) and (3) of section 272 and setting out those subsections. (12) The presentation and classification of items in the GPFR must be retained from one financial year to the next unless: (a) a significant change in the nature of the operations of the reporting unit requires a more relevant presentation or classification of transactions or other events; or (b) a review of the presentation of the reporting unit's GPFR concludes that the change will result in a more relevant presentation or classification of transactions or other events. (13) Where the reporting unit is dependent on another entity for a significant volume of revenue or financial support and that dependency is not clearly discernible from a separate line item in the statement of comprehensive income or statement of financial position, the notes to the financial statements must disclose: (a) the name of the entity on which there is an economic dependency; and (b) the amount of revenue or financial support derived from the other entity. (14) Comparatives for the preceding financial year which correspond to the disclosures specified for the current financial year must be disclosed, except where, in respect of the financial year to which these reporting guidelines are first applied, comparatives were not required under the Act or the Regulations or a superseded version of these reporting guidelines. (15) Where a reporting unit acquires an asset or a liability during the financial year as a result of an amalgamation under Part 2 of Chapter 3, of the Act in which the reporting unit was the amalgamated organisation, the reporting unit must disclose in the notes to the financial statements in respect of each such asset or class of assets or each such liability or class of liabilities: (a) the date acquired; (b) a description; and (c) the name of the organisation from which it was acquired. Statement of comprehensive income Revenue (16) Total amounts for the following items of revenue must be disclosed, so far as applicable, either in the notes to the financial statements or on the face of the statement of comprehensive income: (a) membership subscriptions (i.e. fees in respect of membership of the organisation); (b) where compulsory levies or voluntary contributions (including whip arounds) are raised from the members for the furtherance of a particular purpose: (i) a brief description of the purpose of each such levy or appeal; and (ii) the amount; (c) donations or grants (other than voluntary contributions referred to in paragraph (b)); and (d) any revenue derived from undertaking recovery of wages activity. Expense (17) Total amounts for the following items of expenditure must be disclosed, so far as applicable, either in the notes to the financial statements or on the face of the statement of comprehensive income: (a) amount paid to employers for making payroll deductions of membership subscriptions; (b) where fees/periodic subscriptions are paid in respect of its affiliation to any political party, any federation, congress, council or group of organisations, or any international body having an interest in industrial matters: (i) the amount paid to each entity; and (ii) the name of each entity to which monies were paid; (c) where compulsory levies have been imposed on the reporting unit by another entity, for each such levy compulsory levies have been imposed on the reporting unit by another entity, for each such levy: (i) a brief description of purpose; (ii) the amount; and (iii) the name of the entity imposing the levy; (d) where grants or donations have been expensed: (i) the total amount of grants that were $1,000 or less; (ii) the total amount of grants that exceeded $1,000; (iii) the total amount of donations that were $1,000 or less; (iv) the total amount of donations that exceeded $1,000; Grants and donations that exceed $1,000 must be separately disclosed in a statement and lodged with the Fair Work Commission in accordance with section 237 of the Act.[1] (e) employee expenses related to holders of office of the reporting unit by each of the following categories: (i) wages and salaries; (ii) superannuation; (iii) leave and other entitlements; (iv) separation and redundancy; and (v) other employee expenses (specify if material); (f) employee expenses related to employees (other than holders of offices) of the reporting unit by each of the following categories: (i) wages and salaries; (ii) superannuation; (iii) leave and other entitlements; (iv) separation and redundancy; and (v) other employee expenses (specify if material); (g) fees and/or allowances (excluding any employee expenses already included in an amount referred to in paragraphs (e) or (f)) paid to persons in respect of their attendances as representatives of the reporting unit at conferences or other meetings; (h) expenses (other than expenses included in an amount referred to elsewhere in this paragraph) incurred in connection with holding meetings, as required under the rules of the organisation, for which the reporting unit was wholly or partly responsible; (i) remuneration of the auditor of the reporting unit for: (i) an audit or a review of the financial report of the reporting unit; and (ii) other services in relation to the reporting unit; (j) legal costs and other expenses related to: (i) litigation; and (ii) other legal costs; (k) general administrative expenses other than any such expenses included in an amount referred to elsewhere in this paragraph; (l) interest on loans and any other expenses incurred in connection with the control or management of the assets of the reporting unit; (m) provision for depreciation or amortisation on investments and other assets; and (n) penalties imposed on the organisation under the Act and the Fair Work Act 2009. (18) The statement of comprehensive income shall disclose so far as applicable the balances for the following items: (a) profit or loss; (b) other comprehensive income; (c) total comprehensive income for the period, being the total profit or loss and other comprehensive income; (d) where any amount (other than an amount included in an amount referred to elsewhere in these reporting guidelines) has been transferred to a fund or account kept for a specific purpose by the reporting unit or any such amount has been withdrawn from such a fund or account: (i) the amount transferred to, or withdrawn from, that fund or account as the case may be; and (ii) the name of the fund or account; and (e) the net surplus or net deficit of the reporting unit that has been transferred to the general fund. Statement of financial position Assets (19) Balances for the following items must be disclosed, so far as applicable, either in the notes to the financial statements or on the face of the statement of financial position: (a) cash and cash equivalents; (b) prepayments; (c) receivables relating to: (i) trade receivables; (ii) GST receivables; (iii) loans receivable that have been made, guaranteed or secured by the reporting unit to an officer of the reporting unit or a spouse, relative or any other entity under the joint or several control or significant influence of such officers, spouses or relatives; and (iv) other receivables; (d) investments; (e) assets relating to: (i) property, plant and equipment; (ii) intangible assets; and (iii) other assets; (f) accumulated depreciation presented as a deduction from the asset or class of assets to which it relates; (g) for each class of depreciable assets: (i) the depreciation methods used; and (ii) the useful lives or the depreciation rates used; and (iii) the gross account of depreciable assets and the related accumulated depreciation.