Annual accountability
Information about the annual accountability process, why it’s important, and resources to assist with preparing submissions. Annual accountability applies to DCJ service providers that deliver funded contracts.
Frequently asked questions
1. How long will it take to complete all the required details in the Contracting Portal?
2. How do I find out who my DCJ contract manager is?
3. How and where we can add authorised signatories who are able to sign off on DCJ documentation?
5. Is there a set amount of funding that can be used for the purchase of assets?
7. Can we roll over unspent COVID-19 payments, or do we need approval from the department?
10. How do we report alternative care arrangement (ACA) reimbursements?
1. How long will it take to complete all the required details in the Contracting Portal?
It should take less than an hour, depending on complexity and your familiarity with the process.
You’ll be able to answer many questions in the Contracting Portal by referring to:
- your income and expenditure statement, for questions on the contract-level form, and
- your full organisation financial statements, for questions on the corporate-level form.
So have those documents on hand when entering your responses.
Also, the questions don’t vary very much from year to year, so this makes it easier for you to complete the forms.
Use the guide to reporting annual accountability and other resources to prepare for the questions.
2. How do I find out who my DCJ contract manager is?
Your DCJ contract manager for the contract is listed in two places in the Contracting Portal.
When you navigate to a Program Level Agreement (PLA) record, the contract manager is listed on the top on the screen with the rest on the PLA details. You'll also find the contract manager's details on the bottom of the Acquittals details page, under the form.
3. How and where we can add authorised signatories who are able to sign off on DCJ documentation?
You can provide the details of your board or committee members, as well as key executives, in the Contracting Portal.
- Add the individuals as ‘users’.
- In their job title, indicate the position that they hold on the governance body or that they are an authorised signatory.
- You don’t need to change their status to ‘active’ nor do you need to give them a user type if they won’t be required to access the portal.
You can get further instructions on adding a user from the portal Help menu.
Find out more about authorised signatories
4. Re item 6 on the contract-level form (proceeds from disposal of DCJ-funded assets):
Why can’t service providers depreciate assets purchased using DCJ funds? If an asset isn't sold but eventually outlives its usefulness, can we include it in the depreciation schedule?
You may depreciate assets in your organisation's accounts, as required by the accounting standards.
However, don’t report asset depreciation in the income and expenditure statements for DCJ contracts nor in the form on the Contracting Portal.
This is because:
- Any asset purchased with DCJ funds has already been claimed outright as an expense against the contract funding in the financial year of purchase.
- To claim depreciation on the same asset in subsequent years is to claim an additional deduction for an expense already claimed.
5. Is there a set amount of funding that can be used for the purchase of assets?
No.
However, we recommend your organisation performs a cost-benefit analysis to justify the amount allocated to an asset's purchase, so that it doesn’t affect delivery on the contracted services. Please refer to your contract and also contact your DCJ contract manager to ensure reasonable steps have been taken prior to purchase of any assets.
6. Where do we report government subsidies to assist with our response to COVID-19 and/or the 2022 floods?
Report any of the following as a corporate-level subsidy in your financial statements:
- payments and/or grants from the Commonwealth Government
- special grant payments from DCJ, such as the COVID-19 Partnership Grant, the COVID-19 Regional Partnership Grant, and the Social Sector Support Fund, as well as the Social Sector Transformation Fund
- payments and/or grants from other NSW Government agencies.
You don’t have to acquit the funds or report them as income for any of your of DCJ contracts.
However, if your organisation received a special payment from DCJ to assist with your response to COVID-19, and it wasn’t a special grant with its own contract, you must report the funds as income for the applicable DCJ contracts.
This is fully explained in ‘Reporting government subsidies’, on page 3 of the guide to Reporting annual accountability 2021–22.
7. Can we roll over unspent COVID-19 payments, or do we need approval from the department?
You can only roll over unspent COVID-19 payments if we gave your organisation an extension to carry forward spending. This includes payments for:
- the non-government refuge cleaning stimulus funding
- FOCAS (Family Outreach and Child Adolescent Services) brokerage made available in the 2021–22 financial year to the relevant Specialist Homelessness Services and Homeless Youth Assistance Program providers
- expanding services in the area of domestic and family violence, including payments under the National Partnership Agreement and additional funding for Staying Home Leaving Violence.
2021–22 FOCAS funding may be rolled over pending performance review by your DCJ contract manager. You’ll be notified of the review’s outcome when it’s completed.
Any unspent portion of the 2020–21 FOCAS and 2020–21 Under 16’s stimulus package must be returned to DCJ during the 2021–22 annual accountability process.
This is explained in ‘Exceptions to the unspent funds general requirements for 2021–21’ on page 6 of the guide to the guide to Reporting annual accountability 2021–22.
8. The document 'Reporting annual accountability 2021–22' has a special note for Permanency Support Program (PSP) providers that payments for alternative care arrangements (ACA) must have a separate line in the income and expenditure statement. Does this also apply to individual placement arrangements (IPA) and Complex Needs Payments?
Yes. If you’ve received any payments outside of our contracting payments system (for example, on an invoice basis) for ACA, IPA and Complex Needs Payments, include a separate line item in your income and expenditure statement.
In addition, report such payments at item 7 on the contract-level form (other contract-related income).
9. Re item 7 on the contract-level form (other contract-related payments):
We have accrued income based on what we believe the Permanency Support Program (PSP) clients should be paid by DCJ. Since the reconciliation hasn’t been completed by DCJ, this figure may change once the reconciliation is done. Should we include these? Also, in relation to Complex Needs Payments, we haven’t received confirmation from DCJ whether you agree with our figures, so we won't be able to accrue this income. Are they to be included at item 7?
Yes. Include Complex Needs Payments at item 7. And include a separate line item in the income and expenditure statement.
We understand there are cases of unreconciled amounts. In these cases, use the accounting standards of revenue recognition criteria to accrue such income, and report accordingly at the contract level. If required, you may need to seek further advice from your external accountant or auditor.
We also understand that the accrued amount may differ to actual income received at a later stage, and subsequent adjustment to accrual may be required.
10. How do we report alternative care arrangement (ACA) reimbursements?
Include payments for ACA at item 7 on the contract-level form (other contract-related income). And include a separate line item in the income and expenditure statement.
11. Re item 1 on the contract-level form (income received from DCJ):
For Permanency Support Program (PSP) providers, does this prepopulated figure include payments for alternative care arrangement (ACA), individual placement arrangements (IPA) and Complex Needs Payments?
No. Payments outside of our contracting payments system (for example, on an invoice basis) for ACA, IPA and Complex Needs Payments aren’t included at item 1.
Report such payments at item 7 on the contract-level form (other contract-related income). And include a separate line item in your income and expenditure statement.
12. What do we do if our organisation doesn’t comply with one of the paragraphs in either the service provider declaration for corporate-level accountability or the annual accountability certification for contract-level accountability?
The declaration and certification forms both include a table where you can list any exceptions to meeting the requirements, and the reasons for the exceptions.