$793m of assets missing from Qld council registers

Queensland’s councils in the last three years have failed to include almost $793 million worth of assets in public registers, are spending beyond their means and exposing themselves to an unnecessary risk of fraud, an audit has warned. 

An audit exposing millions of dollars in ‘found’ assets at Queensland councils has raised concerns about fiscal management at Queensland’s 77 councils.

Incomplete asset registers, overspending and ‘systemic’ poor internal controls are plaguing Queensland’s councils, a Queensland Audit Office report released on Wednesday has found.

The report, which canvassed councils’ financial management, revealed that twenty-five councils reported $378.2 million in ‘found’ assets, or assets not included in registers, this year.

The number of ‘found’ assets by councils.

Over the past three years 40 councils reported found assets worth $793 million, Queensland Auditor-General Brendan Worrall said.

“Without complete and accurate asset information, councils cannot adequately plan and manage their activities,” the audit says.

The report also found that long-term financial sustainability remains a “major risk” with 43 councils reporting operating losses – 17 more than the previous year.

Councils are at increasing risk of becoming financially

Queensland Auditor-General Mr Brendan Worrall

unsustainable, the report says, with twenty-two of the 77 at “higher risk of being unsustainable, largely due to their remote location”.

The quality of financial reporting was also flawed, with the audit saying it requires “improvement” with 21 councils making significant adjustments to their draft financial statements and 12 correcting material errors from the previous year.

“Councils need to continue their focus on long-term planning and managing the costs of delivering their services to reduce their operating losses as far as possible,” the audit says.

There are risks to councils’ financial sustainability , the audit says.

‘Systemic’ control weaknesses 

Good governance and financial stewardship are “still not a priority for many councils,” the audit says.

The “inaction” of many councils in addressing high-risk internal weaknesses indicates these controls are  “not valued” by the sector, it says.

These control weaknesses were widespread, with 57 councils found to have 273 “significant” control weaknesses.

The issues were ‘systemic’ across the sector, the audit says, with 62 per cent of the issues raised in prior years still unresolved.

The failure to address these issues exposes councils to a higher risk of fraud and undetected errors, the audit says.

A lack of oversight is contributing to these weaknesses, the audit says, with 38 of 74 controlled entities being wound up since 2013.

Financial statements being prepared by these entities are also rarely being made public, with 46 of the 80 entities making these reports public.

Not every council has an audit committee, the report warns, with 18 without one. Those that have one have “proportionally” stronger internal controls.

Good news

The audit did, however, find that councils are getting better at meeting their deadlines for reporting, reducing the time taken by 1.6 weeks  compared to the previous year.

Over the past four years councils have reduced the average time taken by 5.8 weeks.

The audit has made a number of recommendations on how councils can improve their financial management including ensuring asset registers are complete and reviewing monitoring controls.

The Department of Local Government supported the audit’s recommendations.

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4 thoughts on “$793m of assets missing from Qld council registers

  1. The whole concept of “local councils” which act as “agencies” for vast unmanageable states is flawed. What is needed is a whole new way of doing things. It would be far better to have much, much smaller states and no local councils at all. As soon as you introduce an “agent” to manage your affairs – be it a local council, a broker or any external licenced authority, that is when a Pandora’s Box of mismanagement, graft and corruption is opened. It is far better to have much smaller states which are in full control of what’s happening than to trust outsiders with a government body’s money and assets.

    1. Totally agree, we are seeing this at a local Council level. Anyone can approach through the back door and heaven knows what they can get for their utterances among other things. We have noticed this all the way to the Top corridors of power in Queensland.

    2. To get good fruit sometimes the dead wood and heavy pranches have to be cut back.
      This is the problem with our Councils. Too many useless branches preventing the good to flourish!

      Councils need to be transparent with where the money goes.
      Get rid of them altogether. With our advancement in communication there needs to be less people sitting around doing very little and collecting big salaries.

  2. Sorry subsumed them into State and Territory Gov restructure and ditch councillors and internal agencies Forgot Animal control in the list of core business.

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