4 Managing money

This part covers instructions to officials on the proper management of relevant money, including the following topics:

• agreements with banks and managing bank accounts
• receiving and handling relevant money
• cash advances
• investments and borrowings
• special accounts
• user charging.

Relevant money is money that the Commonwealth holds as cash or in bank accounts and includes:

• Australian currency, foreign currency and cheques in any currency
• money raised by, or on behalf of, the Commonwealth in a variety of ways, including by appropriations, taxes, borrowings, loan repayments, rebates, levies and fees
• money held on trust by the Commonwealth (for the benefit of persons outside the Commonwealth)
• money found on Commonwealth premises.

Relevant money does not include other Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) money (see Arrangements for other CRF money).

Agreements with banks and managing bank accounts

This section provides instructions for officials with a delegation to:

• enter into agreements with banks
• open and maintain bank accounts.

The Finance Minister has delegated the power in section 53 of the PGPA Act to accountable authorities to enter into transactional banking agreements on behalf of the Commonwealth, and to open and maintain bank accounts. Accountable authorities may delegate this power to officials.

Instructions – all officials

You must not:

• enter into an agreement with a bank for banking business services; or
• open, maintain or close an entity bank account

unless you have been delegated the power to do so under section 53 of the PGPA Act.

Agreements with banks

Instructions – officials with a delegation to enter into agreements with banks

You may only enter into an agreement with a bank for banking business services in Australia, unless your entity is permitted to open and maintain bank accounts outside Australia. When entering into an agreement with a bank, you must comply with the directions in relation to the delegation from your accountable authority. You may only enter into an agreement with a bank for overdraft drawings if the agreement provides for each drawing to be repaid within 30 days.

• Officials who have been sub-delegated the power to open bank accounts must observe the directions issued by the Australian Information Commissioner on the use of that delegation and the types of accounts that may be opened.
• Officials who have been sub-delegated the power to open bank accounts must:
• not open bank accounts in the name of individuals;
• not withdraw money from the official account except as authorised;
• establish such bank accounts with the Reserve Bank of Australia unless it is not practicable to do so;
• designate officials to reconcile official bank accounts at least monthly.
• The OAIC operates its official bank accounts with the Reserve Bank of Australia.
• Official bank accounts may only be opened and closed as set out in the Financial Delegations and Authorisations.

Managing bank accounts

Instructions – officials with a delegation to open and maintain bank accounts

You may only open and maintain entity bank accounts in Australia, unless your entity is permitted to open and maintain bank accounts outside Australia. When opening and maintaining an entity bank account, you must comply with the directions in the delegation from your accountable authority.

Receiving and handling money

This section provides instructions for officials who receive relevant money that:

• can be deposited in a bank (bankable money)
• is not bankable (unbankable money).

Officials are required to ensure the security of any relevant money that is in their custody. A loss of relevant money may result in a debt owed to the Commonwealth. A person’s liability to pay such a debt is not avoided if they stop working for the entity. For further information on the management of debt, see Managing debts and amounts owing to the Commonwealth.

Instructions – all officials

If you receive relevant money, you must ensure the safe custody of the money. You must not misuse or improperly dispose of relevant money. If a loss of relevant money occurs while the money is in your custody, you will be liable to pay the Commonwealth an amount equal to the loss, unless you took reasonable steps to prevent the loss (see section 68 of the PGPA Act). If you cause or contribute to a loss of public money by misconduct, or a deliberate or serious disregard for reasonable standards of care, you will be liable to pay the Commonwealth an amount that reflects your share of the responsibility for the loss (see section 69 of the PGPA Act). If you are entering into an arrangement with a person outside the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth entity to handle other CRF money, you must comply with the instructions in Arrangements for other CRF money.

• The OAIC reserves the right to refuse to accept payment by cheque or cash where it is judged that acceptance of payment in that form would not be in the OAIC’s interests. In such cases, the cheque or cash should be returned to the sender as soon as possible.
• 'Cash' is defined as all cash value articles, including bank notes, coins, cheques (including returned), postage stamps, money orders, money order telegrams, bonds, bond coupons, income tax instalment stamps, departure tax stamps and Customs or other duty stamps. If there is doubt as to whether an article is included within this definition, it is to be handled as if it were included, but written up with a statement of that doubt and with a clear description of what the article is and how it was disposed of. Repeated instances of such doubt are to be referred to the Deputy Commissioner with a view to amending the definition.

Money Found in the OAIC

• An official who finds money on the OAIC’s premises must pass it to the Receiver of Relevant Moneys on the day it is found, or if not practicable, on the next working day. The Receiver of Relevant Moneys will:
• issue a receipt to the finder;
• maintain a register for money found on OAIC premises;
• ensure the safe custody of the money;
• make every reasonable effort to trace the owner and return the money to him/her; and
• where appropriate, notify the local police.
• In the first instance, such money must be treated as Separated Special Relevant Money (SSPM). If the money is not claimed within a month of being found it ceases to be treated as SSPM and becomes received money which must be credited to Miscellaneous Revenue and deposited in the official bank account.

Instructions – officials who receive or handle bankable money

If you receive relevant money that is bankable money, then unless specified in these instructions, you must deposit the money in a bank before the end of the next banking day.

You must ensure that relevant money is only ever deposited into an entity bank account, unless the money is to be retained as cash for the purposes of making payments in relation to the Commonwealth entity in accordance with any requirements in these instructions.

Cash advances (including petty cash and change floats)

This section provides instructions on cash advances, including petty cash and change floats. Cash advances are typically used as change floats or to cover minor expenses that cannot be conveniently or cost-effectively processed for payment by cheque, electronic funds transfer or credit card.
A cash advance is relevant money that has been withdrawn from an entity bank account and provided to a specific official to make payments in cash. It also includes money received for the purposes of reimbursing the petty cash or change float.

Instructions – officials who are authorised to hold cash advances

You may receive an amount withdrawn from an entity bank account to establish or replenish a cash advance approved by the Australian Information Commissioner (or their delegate).
You are responsible for the cash advance and must take reasonable steps to safeguard the money from loss.
You must:

• comply with any other directions from the Australian Information Commissioner in relation to the cash advance.

You must not:

• make a payment from a cash advance, unless you are authorised to do so
• make a payment for any purpose other than that for which the cash advance was established.

If you enter into an arrangement in relation to a cash advance, you must be delegated the power to do so under section 23 of the PGPA Act.
If you authorise a proposed commitment of relevant money that will result in a payment of the cash advance, you must be delegated the power or authorised to do so under section 23 of the PGPA Act.

• The Deputy Commissioner is responsible for the overall management of official advances within the OAIC. The duties include:
• ensuring that advance holders are aware of their responsibilities
• Seek confirmation from the Finance Manager – AHRC that:
• a register of official advances is maintained;
• official advances are reconciled and
• report any instances of suspected misuse to the Deputy Commissioner.

Investments and borrowings

This section provides instructions on investing and borrowing relevant money. As a general rule, relevant money managed by the Commonwealth cannot be invested by an entity.

Investments

The Finance Minister and Treasurer have delegated limited powers to a limited number of accountable authorities to invest relevant money in authorised investments on behalf of the Commonwealth (see section 58 of the PGPA Act). Accountable authorities can sub-delegate this authority. The investments that are authorised under section 58 are limited to a specific list of conservative investments outlined in section 22 of the PGPA Rule.

Instructions – officials with a delegation to invest relevant money

You must not invest relevant money on behalf of the Commonwealth unless you have been delegated the authority to do so by the Finance Minister or Treasurer under section 58 of the PGPA Act. When investing relevant money, you must comply with any directions in relation to the delegation from the Australian Information Commissioner. You must:

• ensure that relevant money is only invested in authorised investments (section 22 of the PGPA Rule)
• ensure that the proceeds of an investment debited from a special account are, upon realisation, credited to that special account.

When investing relevant money from a special account, you must ensure that the investment is consistent with the purposes of that special account. When investing relevant money that is trust money, you must ensure that the investment is consistent with the terms of the trust.

Prior to an investment maturing, you may authorise the reinvestment of the proceeds, upon maturity, in an authorised investment with the same entity. You must take all reasonable steps to obtain the maximum return available on authorised investments.

Prior to making an investment or authorising a reinvestment that involves an amount of $15 million or more, you must provide details of the proposed investment or reinvestment to the Australian Office of Financial Management.

Borrowing

The Finance Minister has delegated to accountable authorities, under section 56 of the PGPA Act, very limited powers to enter into borrowing agreements for Commonwealth credit card or credit voucher services (see Commonwealth credit cards and credit vouchers).

Instructions – officials with a delegation to enter into borrowing agreements for credit card or credit voucher services

You must not enter into a borrowing agreement on behalf of the Commonwealth unless you have been delegated the authority to do so under section 56 of the PGPA Act.
You may only enter into a borrowing agreement for a credit card or credit voucher to be issued to, and used by, officials of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on behalf of the Commonwealth. When entering into a borrowing agreement, you must comply with the instructions on Commonwealth credit cards and credit vouchers.

Using special accounts

This section provides instructions on the use and management of special accounts.
Special accounts are an appropriation mechanism to draw money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for particular purposes. They are not bank accounts. Special accounts can be established by a determination made by the Finance Minister (see section 78 of the PGPA Act), or by another Act (see section 80 of the PGPA Act).
How money can be credited to, or debited from, a special account will depend on the purpose of the special account set out in the Finance Minister’s determination or the Act that establishes the special account.

Instructions – officials involved with the use and management of special accounts

You must ensure that only those amounts that have been identified for crediting to a special account are credited to it.
You must ensure that amounts are only debited from a special account in accordance with the purposes for which the account was established. You must not use money from a special account to make a payment unless you are authorised to do so. Before making a payment, you must ensure that the balance of the special account is sufficient to cover the proposed payment (see Making payments of relevant money). Moneys allocated to a special account must not be invested or earn interest, unless the authority to invest such moneys has been provided by the Finance Minister under section 58 of the PGPA Act. You must consult with Finance prior to establishing a special account.

Charging

This section provides instructions on:

• charging for regulatory, resource and commercial activities in line with the Australian Government Charging Framework
• portfolio charging reviews.

These instructions do not cover intra- or inter-government charges, fines, penalties, general taxation, or Freedom of Information Act 1982 charges.

The Australian Government Charging Framework:

• helps determine whether it is appropriate to charge for a government activity
• encourages a common approach to planning, implementing and reviewing charging activities
• indicates how to classify each charging activity and the best policy, legislative and pricing approach for each activity
• incorporates and builds on the Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines, which apply to regulatory charging activities.

Consistent with the PGPA Act requirements relating to proper use and management of public resources, charging is appropriate only where it is cost-effective and efficient. In particular:

• the cost of administering a charging activity needs to be proportional to the revenue generated from the activity
• where the charging activity is provided to government and non-government stakeholders, charges need to be set on the same basis
• different pricing models can be used, depending on the specific charging activity being undertaken (more than one pricing model can be used for different aspects of an activity).

Undertaking a charging activity includes planning, developing, managing and reviewing a charging activity.

A key element of undertaking a charging activity is to identify and engage with risk at each stage of the charging process. Officials may use the charging risk assessment template to assess the risk of a new or amended charging activity.

Instructions – all officials

When planning, developing, managing and reviewing a charging activity, you must apply the Australian Government Charging Framework. Specifically, you must:

• take account of the charging policy statement and charging considerations
• apply the six charging principles.

For each charging activity, you must consider:

• whether policy approval is required from the Australian Government
• what statutory authority is required
• whether there is a need to align expenses and revenue
• maintaining appropriate up-to-date records, including the level of publicly available documentation and reporting.

You must provide information on existing or potential charging activities for the portfolio charging review.

Instructions – officials undertaking regulatory charging activities

For each regulatory charging activity, you must:

• have policy approval from the Australian Government to recover costs
• have statutory authority to charge
• ensure alignment between expenses and revenue
• maintain up-to-date, publicly available documentation and reporting, specifically:
• a cost recovery implementation statement must be completed, approved and published in line with the Australian Government Charging Framework for all regulatory charging activities, regardless of value, before charges commence
• regulatory charging expenses and revenue must be reported
• at an aggregate level in the OAIC’s financial statements, in accordance with the financial reporting rule
• at the activity level on the OAIC’s website as part of the cost recovery implementation statement.

When developing or revising a regulatory charging activity, you must undertake a risk assessment. If a new policy proposal is being brought forward, the risk rating in the charging risk assessment must be agreed with the Department of Finance.

Portfolio charging review

Departments of state must conduct a review of existing and potential charging activities at least every five years, in accordance with the published schedule of portfolio charging reviews or at other times agreed by the Finance Minister.

The portfolio charging review is an opportunity to assess, compare and evaluate the performance of existing charging activities across the portfolio, including stakeholder engagement. The outcome of the review may include recommendations that existing charging activities be discontinued or amended or identify potential new charging activities.

The report must be submitted to the relevant minister and copied to the Finance Minister, in time for policy proposals to implement recommendations, if any, to be brought forward in the Budget.

Instructions – department of state officials involved in conducting a portfolio charging review

You must conduct a review of charging activities across the portfolio in accordance with the published schedule of portfolio charging reviews.

The review report must be submitted to the Attorney-General and a copy provided to the Finance Minister.