Kiama Council is celebrating a major win in our financial reforms with the NSW Audit Office giving our Financial Statements 2023-24 a clean bill of health.
CEO Jane Stroud said having the qualification lifted on Council's financial records was incredibly important and a reward for the tireless efforts of her staff.
"This is a brilliant achievement. We have a clean audit, delivered on time, and ahead of many other councils." Ms Stroud said.
"Achieving financial sustainability and transparency is essential for Kiama Council if we want to have the NSW Government's Performance Improvement Order removed."
"This result is a big step forward towards that goal."
Chief Financial Officer Olena Tulubinska thanked her hard-working team and the NSW Audit Office, who provided assistance, as well as the Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee, which oversaw the process.
"I'm so proud of our finance team. I'd also like to thank our engineering and maintenance teams who assisted with stocktakes and inspections," Ms Tulubinska said.
"In fact, all Council staff can take credit for this result. We really pulled together to get our accounts back on track."
Ms Tulubinska said Council and the finance team have been working closely with auditors over the past two years to complete four sets of financial statements and to clear all the issues that have been the basis for the qualified audit opinions over those years.
The result of that work is that the qualification will be lifted and an unmodified audit opinion will be issued for the Financial Statements 2023-24.
Councillors last night endorsed the financial statements.
Mayor Cameron McDonald thanked council staff for their help getting the new councillors up to speed on Council's finances.
"We appreciate the work put in by Olena and the team explaining the financial reforms being put in place," Cr McDonald said.
"It certainly was a great pleasure to sign off on the statements, and everyone involved should be very proud."
"It's yet another strong signal to the NSW Government and our own community, that Kiama Council is doing what needs to be done."
The statements show Council recorded a $14.2M loss in 2023-24 financial year compared to a $7.6M loss in 2022-23.
The increased deficit reflects the impact of a number of significant costs outside Council's control, including:
- 15% pay increase for aged care workers ($1.8M)
- 3.5% pay increase for staff under the Local Government Award ($2.8M)
- Increase in legal expenses ($1.4M)
- Additional disaster recovery expenses ($1.5M)
Cr McDonald said despite these one-off factors, Council remained on track to improve its financial outlook.
"We've taken a massive step forward with the unqualified audit, and we're making good progress towards a balanced by 2026-27, which is another critical part of the Performance Improvement Order."
