Qld audit office flags Gympie council financial deadline fails

The Gympie council has been named one of four in Qld to repeatedly fail to meet deadlines for financial reports to auditors, with the state watchdog suggesting what problems they think are at play.

Gympie Regional Council’s financial management is again under scrutiny with state government auditors flagging several problems with its practices, including one regularly recurring problem. Pictured inset: Chief financial officer David Lewis (left) and CEO Robert Jennings (right).

Gympie Regional Council has been named as one of only four state councils to repeatedly fail to meet deadlines for submitting financial statements to auditors, with the state watchdog suggesting internal, not external, problems were at play.

The Queensland Audit Office’s latest report into the state’s 77 councils revealed Gympie council had asked for an extension of time in each of the past three years.

Councils are required to submit their statements to the audit office by October 31.

Extensions can be granted where “extraordinary circumstances” exist.

Etheridge Shire Council, Mornington Shire Council and Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council – all located in remote parts of the state – were the only other councils to require similar extensions from 2021-2023.

In its report, the audit office challenged whether this was always the case.

“Our view remains that when councils – and many times the same councils – seek extensions from the minister year after year, it cannot be deemed ‘extraordinary circumstances’,” the report says.

Gympie Regional Council was one of only four councils in the state to fail to meet the October 31 reporting deadline for three straight years, the Queensland Audit Office’s latest report reveals.

Natural disaster and staff shortages could play a part in leading to delays some years, it says, but the “main reasons” councils fail to meet the deadline “is that they have poor processes for financial reporting”.

The audit office said the October 31 deadline should be considered the “minimum standard” and not the target date.

Failing to report timely information left management and councillors without “reliable financial information to help prepare the next year’s budget, and (they) may be making financial decisions based on inaccurate or out-of-date information”.

The report also identified five “significant” deficiencies within Gympie council’s internal financial controls and processes.

Four of these had been outstanding for more than a year.

This follows multiple deficiencies being identified by the audit office for the 2021-22 financial year.

Gympie Regional Council has been contacted for comment.

The council’s own long term financial sustainability continues to be shaky, the report found.

It was again rated a “moderate” risk of long term unsustainability, with an inability to consistently record operating surpluses.

In 2022-23 the council reported a $2.82 million operating loss.

Its problems arrive amid a wider concern by the audit office that Qld councils were falling short in transparency, and there was a lack of qualified staff managing ratepayers’ money.

It found more than a third of the state’s councils did not have a professionally qualified staff member working as their head of finance.