Guidelines for the Costing of Elections

Section 13(1) of the Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007 requires the Secretary of the Department of Treasury and Finance to prepare written guidelines outlining the framework under which publicly announced election policies of the Government and the Opposition will be costed by Treasury. To fulfil this obligation, the Branch developed the Guidelines for Costing Election Policies during 2007–08. Both the Government and the Opposition parties were consulted as part of this process. The Guidelines were publicly released on the Treasury website in July 2008 and will provide greater consistency and transparency in the costing of election policies for all parties.

Next year…

In 2008–09, we plan to continue to improve the State Budget Papers so that we can provide the best possible information to the Tasmanian community on budgetary issues, on the monitoring of Tasmania's financial performance, and on Tasmania's fiscal strategy. The Branch will specifically focus on improving performance information across all agencies.

We will begin an extensive review of the Budget Management System in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the system. We will consult with stakeholders to ensure system developments incorporate changes that will assist in preparing high-quality Budget reports.

We will implement changes arising from the revision of the Public Account Act 1986 and the Financial Management and Audit Act 1990.

We will evaluate the Strategic Asset Management Investment Plan. In consultation with others we will ensure that decision-making for asset investments is adequate and that the procedures included in the investment plan provide a good basis for investment decisions.

Financial management and accounting services

(Budget Output 1.2)

Continued progress on GAAP-GFS harmonisation

For many years Australia's Heads of Treasuries have been pursuing the harmonisation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Government Finance Statistics (GFS). During 2007-08, we continued our contribution to the Australian Accounting Standards Board's GAAP-GFS harmonisation project and supported Heads of Treasuries in their contributions to the project.

A new integrated AASB 1049 Whole of Government and General Government Sector Financial Reporting, which incorporates both General Government Sector and whole-of-government reporting, was finalised by the Australian Accounting Standards Board in October 2007. This represents a substantial step toward finalising a suite of harmonised GAAP-GFS standards.

Heads of Treasuries have requested that the Australian Accounting Standards Board now gives priority to the financial reporting of government departments and other General Government Sector entities. Heads of Treasuries consider that this extension of the harmonisation project will complete the project.