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With the start of the new financial year, local government Chief Executive Officers and senior staff should ensure they have the resources and/or contracts in place to balance the local government’s accounts to 30 June 2021.

Acceptable draft financial statements should be submitted to the auditor by 30 September 2021.

Where acceptable draft financial statements cannot be provided to the auditor by 30 September 2021, the local government should seek approval for an extension from the Minister for Local Government.

Any application for extension must be made prior to 30 September 2021. The application form can be found in Smart Hub under 'Requests for Approval Forms'. When applying for an extension, the local government should:

• clearly identify what work still needs to be undertaken
• discuss with their auditor, so a realistic timeframe for undertaking and finalising the audit can be established.

Where revaluations are required for the year ending 30 June 2021, the details need to be obtained by mid-August 2021 to ensure sufficient time to meet the 30 September 2021 timeframe.

If you have a specific query email us at DLGSC

Also, any valuer’s report should state it has been prepared for the purposes of the local government’s financial reporting requirements and is in accordance with the Australian Accounting Standards.

If you cannot get the asset valuations in time, DLGSC advice is to proceed without them, but be aware that is highly likely to result in a qualified audit.

The qualification will occur because the assets have not been revalued with sufficient regularity in accordance with legislative requirements, therefore the auditor will be unable to determine if the values reported represent fair value.