Local government 2023

Tabled Report 8: 2023–24

Tabled date

2024-01-29

Report year

2023-24

Local government

Entities audited

Not identified in the published HTML audit scope.

Recommendations

1. QAO's text Addressed to: Councils

   Councils should regularly review and update their policies and procedures to ensure they are up to date and meet the needs of their operations.

   Each council should develop a work plan to ensure all policies are reviewed at least every 3 years or when there are significant changes to the council’s structure (Chapter 4).

2. QAO's text Addressed to: Councils

   Councils should educate all elected councillors and mayors on matters that are specific to their council, including unique challenges of their council and its strategic objectives and operations. This will ensure there is a smooth transition to the new council.

   It should also reinforce their understanding of their responsibilities and encourage mayors and councillors to work effectively together and with council staff (Chapter 4).

3. QAO's text Addressed to: Review the registration status of employees undertaking engineering services to make sure they are complying with the Professional Engineers Act 2002. Councils

   Review the registration status of employees undertaking engineering services to make sure they are complying with the Professional Engineers Act 2002. Councils should do this on an annual basis (Chapter 4).

4. QAO's text Addressed to: the department

   Amend the Local Government Regulation 2012 to require the head of finance to confirm whether the financial controls used to prepare the annual financial statements are effective each year.

   The confirmation should be provided to the mayor and chief executive officer each year before they sign the financial statements and should include:

   • a summary of the council’s internal control framework – the people, systems, and processes that council uses to prepare reliable financial reports – and whether these controls were effective for the period the financial statements relate to  
   • any significant areas of concern and their potential impact, and what action council has taken to address them
   • the status of issues reported in previous years
   • changes and improvements to internal controls during the year.

5. QAO's text Addressed to: the department

   Develop a template that councils can use to annually validate the effectiveness of their internal controls.

   This will help councils and heads of finance identify their key financial internal controls and determine whether these controls have operated effectively throughout the year. The department may benefit from Queensland Treasury’s help, and using practices that are already in place in the state sector (Chapter 3).

6. QAO's text Addressed to: the department

   Amend the sustainability framework for Queensland councils to:

   • include the qualitative (non-financial) indicators the department will use to measure councils
   • define and publish the minimum expected requirements for these qualitative indicators.

   This will give councils a clear understanding of the qualitative elements they are being assessed against, and will help councils prioritise actions to improve them (Chapter 5).

7. QAO's text Addressed to: the department

   Develop a methodology to determine the overall sustainability risk of councils. 

   The methodology should assess the ratios in the department’s sustainability framework in combination so an overall financial sustainability risk profile can be determined for each council.

   The methodology should also consider the impact on the overall financial sustainability if any of the benchmarks (identified for each ratio in the sustainability framework) are not met.

   This will help the department prioritise its resources for councils or groups of councils that need attention more urgently than others. 

   It will also help councils understand what good looks like and how the department intends to use the ratios in total to assess the financial sustainability of councils (Chapter 5).

Authoritative report — Queensland Audit Office

Report PDF on QAO