In accordance with section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994 relevant extracts from the report were provided to all universities, TAFEs, alpine resort management boards, the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Department of Sustainability and Environment with a request for submissions or comments.
Audit type |
Financial statements |
Timeliness of financial statements completion |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Entity | |||||||
This report is the last of six reports to be presented to Parliament covering the results of our audits of public sector financial reports. The reports in this series are outlined in Figure C1.
Figure C1
VAGO reports on the results of the 2010–11 financial audits
Report |
Description |
|---|---|
Auditor-General’s Report on the Annual Financial Report of the State of Victoria, 2010–11 |
Figure B1
Financial
sustainability indicators
Indicator |
Formula |
Description |
|---|---|---|
Underlying result (%) |
Adjusted net surplus / Total underlying revenue |
A positive result indicates a surplus, and the larger the percentage, the stronger the result. A negative result indicates a deficit. Operating deficits cannot be sustained in the long term. |
| AASB | Australian Accounting Standards Board |
| ARCC | Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council |
| ARMB | Alpine Resort Management Board |
| ASIC | Australian Securities and Investments Commission |
| DEECD | Department of Education and Early Childhood Development |
| DSE | Department of Sustainability and Environment |
| DTF | Department of Treasury and Finance |
| FMA | Financial Management Act 1994 |
Victoria’s alpine resorts located at Mount Buller and Mount Stirling, Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, Mount Baw Baw and Lake Mountain, are managed by alpine resort management boards (ARMBs). The Alpine Resorts (Management) Act 1997 sets out the roles and functions of the ARMBs, including the requirement to prepare financial reports with balance dates of 31 October.
To be financially sustainable, universities and technical and further education (TAFE) institutes need the capacity to meet current and future expenditure as it falls due, and to be able to absorb foreseeable changes and financial risks as they materialise. This Part provides our insight to the financial sustainability of tertiary education bodies obtained from analysing the trends in five indicators over a five-year period.
Accrual-based financial statements enable an assessment of whether universities and technical and further education (TAFE) institutes are generating sufficient surpluses from operations to maintain services, fund asset maintenance, and retire debt.
Student fees represent a significant portion of own-source revenue for the tertiary education sector, with 84.9 per cent of these fees received from international students.
Comprehensive internal controls help entities reliably and cost-effectively meet their objectives. Effective internal controls are a prerequisite for the delivery of reliable, accurate and timely external and internal financial reports.
This Part covers the results of the audits of the 2011 financial reports of eight universities and their 57 controlled entities, 14 technical and further education (TAFE) institutes and their 11 controlled entities, seven training entities and the one entity they control and other entities with a financial year ended on 31 December 2011.