Unley's Annual Report

This week's article by Andrew Faulkner on the transparency of Unley's Annual Report in his article Reading between Council lines raises may questions of accountability in the way that budgets and spending are reported. To set the record straight:

• current format of the financial accounts  has been in place for over 10 years and are in accordance with accountings standards and the model set of accounts prescribed by the Regulations. The ‘Other’ classification is used to record expenditure where it does not fit anywhere else.

The article mentioned specifically;

• $372k contributions. This is our payment to the LGA
• $135k program expenses. These are for the delivery of services at our Community Centres and through Community Services (most have corresponding income)
• $720k marketing. This includes support for our 5 Main street Associations, Council Brochures, Community Consultation on DAP’s and SAPN work undertaken last year, publications such as Unley Life, Advertising in the Messenger Press, displays at the Museum and Media monitoring
• $254k General.  This is spread across the organisation

Other items in the $2.1m include:

• Committee Sitting Fees $50k
• Bank Fees and debt collection $130k
• Payment to Valuer General for rates valuation data $162k
• FBT $157k

This doesn't mean that the report could not be more transparent, it can be and it should be.