Financial Management and Audit Regulations 2013
I, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, make the following regulations under the Financial Management and Audit Act 1990 .
2 December 2013PETER G. UNDERWOOD
Governor
By His Excellency's Command,
LARA GIDDINGS
Treasurer
PART 1 - Preliminary
These regulations may be cited as the Financial Management and Audit Regulations 2013 .
These regulations take effect on 31 December 2013.
PART 2 - State Service Salaries
In this Part –allowances means allowances in the nature of salary;employee means a State Service officer or State Service employee;State Service holiday means –(a) a statutory holiday as defined in the Statutory Holidays Act 2000 ; or(b) a holiday appointed under section 53(3) of the State Service Act 2000 ;Total Number of Working Days means the number of calendar days, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays, within the financial year commencing on 1 July each year.
4. Fortnightly payments of salaries and allowances
(1) Except as provided in this regulation, the salaries and allowances of employees are payable fortnightly on the Wednesday of each alternate week (in this regulation referred to as the normal pay-day) for the pay period ending on that day.(2) If a normal pay-day falls on a day that is a State Service holiday throughout the State, payment under subregulation (1) is to be made on the nearest preceding day that is not a State Service holiday or a Sunday.(3) If a normal pay-day falls on a day that is a State Service holiday in a part of the State, payment under subregulation (1) to the employees in that part of the State is to be made on the nearest preceding day that is not a State Service holiday or a Sunday.(4) Despite subregulations (2) and (3) , payment under subregulation (1) may be made on any other day within the fortnightly period that the Treasurer directs, if the normal pay-day falls on –(a) a day during the period commencing on Christmas Day and ending on the following 2 January; or(b) a day considered by the Treasurer to be inappropriate for arranging payment of salaries and allowances.(5) The Treasurer may, from time to time, make such requirements in relation to the payment of salaries and allowances as the Treasurer directs.
5. Salaries of employees: method of calculation
(1) An employee's fortnightly pay is 1/26th of the total salary payable to the employee in the relevant financial year.(2) The total salary payable to an employee for a financial year is to be the amount calculated in accordance with the following formula:(3) An employee's ordinary hourly rate of pay is to be calculated by dividing the employee's fortnightly pay calculated under subregulation (1) by the number of full-time equivalent working hours per fortnight of that employee.(4) The ordinary hourly rate of pay for an employee working less than full-time is to be the same as that of a full-time employee as calculated in accordance with subregulation (2) .(5) An amount calculated under this regulation is to be calculated to –(a) in the case of the fortnightly salary payable to an employee, the nearest cent; and(b) in the case of the total salary payable to an employee, the nearest dollar.
6. Payment of salary following death of employee
Any salary owing to an employee who dies must be paid to that employee's legal representative or, if the Head of Agency so directs, to the employee's spouse or another person who the Head of Agency is satisfied was dependent on the employee when the employee died.
PART 3 - Recoveries and Write-offs
In this Part –Act means the Financial Management and Audit Act 1990 ;chairperson means the chairperson of an investigation committee;inquiry means an inquiry held pursuant to section 59 of the Act;investigating officer means the Auditor-General, the Secretary, or a Head of Agency, who, under section 59 of the Act, has directed that an inquiry be held;investigation committee means an investigation committee appointed under regulation 8 ;subject officer means the officer in respect of whom an inquiry is held.
8. Appointment of investigation committee
(1) On directing that an inquiry be held, the investigating officer must appoint an investigation committee to conduct the inquiry.(2) The committee is to consist of –(a) a chairperson; and(b) a person who is not an officer of the Agency, or a unit of administration, in which the subject officer was employed at the time of the relevant loss, deficiency, destruction or damage; and(c) one of the following:(i) a person nominated by the subject officer;(ii) a person nominated by an employee organisation of which the subject officer is a member;(iii) if no person is nominated, or if the person so nominated is unavailable, an additional person appointed under paragraph (b) .
9. Notice of inquiry to be given to subject officer
On directing that an inquiry be held, the investigating officer must serve the subject officer with a notice –(a) advising that the inquiry is being held; and(b) specifying the place, time and date appointed for the holding of the inquiry (the date being not later than 14 days after the period specified in paragraph (e) expires); and(c) specifying the name, office and address of the investigating officer; and(d) specifying details of the loss, deficiency, destruction or damage intended to be the subject of the inquiry; and(e) advising of the subject officer's right to make an oral or written submission to the inquiry within a period specified in the notice and specifying where such a submission should be made or sent; and(f) specifying the names of the members of the investigation committee appointed under regulation 8(2)(a) and (b) , and inviting the subject officer to nominate, within a period of 7 days from the date of service of the notice, a person to be a member under regulation 8(2)(c) .
10. Notice of inquiry to be given to Auditor-General
An investigating officer who is not the Auditor-General must, on directing that an inquiry be held, notify the Auditor-General in writing of the circumstances of the loss, deficiency, destruction or damage to which the inquiry relates.
(1) At an inquiry –(a) the procedure to be followed is within the discretion of the chairperson; and(b) the investigation committee must observe the rules of natural justice; and(c) the proceedings are to be conducted in private; and(d) the proceedings are to be conducted with as little formality and technicality, and with as much expedition, as the requirements of the Act and a proper consideration of the matters being investigated permit; and(e) the investigation committee is not bound by the rules of evidence but may inform itself in any way it considers appropriate; and(f) the investigation committee is entitled to full and free access to accounts and records relating to the relevant loss, deficiency, destruction or damage and may make copies of, or take extracts from, those accounts and records; and(g) any reasonable request by the subject officer for a witness to be examined must be granted.(2) If it appears to the chairperson that a person other than the subject officer may have caused or contributed to the relevant loss, deficiency, destruction or damage, the chairperson must immediately give the investigating officer advice to that effect.
12. Inquiries and recommendations as to liability
(1) On completing an inquiry, the chairperson must give the investigating officer a report in writing of –(a) the response, if any, of the subject officer to the notice given to that officer under subregulation (3) ; and(b) all relevant facts and findings.(2) The report may contain a recommendation –(a) that the subject officer be determined under section 59 of the Act to be liable under section 60 of the Act to pay an amount to the Crown; and(b) as to the amount, determined in accordance with regulation 13 , that the subject officer is liable to pay to the Crown.(3) Before giving a report under subregulation (1) that contains a recommendation referred to in subregulation (2) , the chairperson must give the subject officer a notice giving the officer an opportunity to state in writing, within 14 days of the service of the notice –(a) any reasons why the recommendation should not be made; or(b) any mitigating facts or circumstances that the officer wishes to be taken into account.(4) A notice under subregulation (3) must –(a) be in writing; and(b) include details of the grounds on which the chairperson proposes to make a recommendation; and(c) state the amount that the chairperson recommends should be recovered from the subject officer.(5) Before giving a report in accordance with subregulation (1) in relation to a subject officer, the chairperson must give due consideration to any statement supplied by the subject officer under subregulation (3) .(6) In determining under section 59 of the Act the amount that the subject officer is liable to pay under section 60 of the Act, the investigating officer must –(a) have regard to mitigating facts or circumstances relevant to the loss, deficiency, destruction or damage; and(b) determine the liability of the subject officer to pay only as much of the amount that, but for this subregulation, would be payable, as is just and reasonable having regard to those mitigating facts or circumstances.
13. Liability for losses arising from misconduct, negligence, &c., of officers
(1) For the purposes of section 60 of the Act, a subject officer is liable if he or she contributes to, or causes, a loss, deficiency or damage to public or other money or public or other property, by –(a) misconduct; or(b) performance of duties in a grossly negligent manner; or(c) failure to take the steps that were reasonable in the circumstances.(2) A subject officer who is liable in accordance with subregulation (1) is liable –(a) in the case of a loss or deficiency in money, for the amount of the loss or deficiency; or(b) in the case of the loss of property, for the value of the property lost; or(c) in the case of damage to property, for the expense of repairing the damage to the property or the value of the property, whichever is less.(3) If the misconduct, negligence, or failure, referred to in subregulation (1) , of the subject officer was not the sole cause of the loss, deficiency or damage, the subject officer is only liable under subregulation (2) to pay to the Crown so much of the amount that, but for this subregulation, would be payable, as is just and equitable having regard to the subject officer's share of responsibility for the loss, deficiency or damage.(4) For the purposes of this regulation, an officer is taken to have performed duties in a grossly negligent manner if the officer has displayed a deliberate or serious disregard for reasonable standards of care in the performance of those duties.(5) In this regulation, a reference to loss of money or property includes a reference to destruction of money or property, respectively.
14. Limitation on powers of Crown
(1) An inquiry is not to be instituted, or if instituted is not to proceed, if any other proceedings (whether civil or criminal) are pending in respect of the loss, deficiency, destruction, or damage, that is the subject of the inquiry.(2) After the determination of any such other proceedings, an inquiry is not to be instituted, or if instituted is not to proceed, unless no remedy was available to the Crown for recovery of the loss, deficiency, destruction, or damage, that was the subject of the other proceedings.(3) Subject to subregulation (4) , the Crown is not to commence or continue legal proceedings (other than criminal proceedings) against a person in respect of the person's liability for a loss, deficiency, destruction, or damage, with respect to public or other money or public or other property, if the person has paid to the Crown, in respect of that liability, an amount equal to the amount, assessed by or on behalf of the Crown, of the loss, deficiency, destruction or damage.(4) Subregulation (3) does not prevent the Crown from continuing proceedings, instituted against an officer under section 61 of the Act before the payment was made under that subregulation, for the purpose only of obtaining an order for the costs of the proceedings.
(1) For the purposes of section 62 of the Act –(a) the maximum amount that may be written off by an appropriate Minister for a single item of property or a single transaction of revenue or other debt due to the Crown is $100 000; and(b) the maximum amount that may be written off by a Head of Agency for a single item of property or a single transaction of revenue or other debt due to the Crown is $25 000.(2) In the application of subregulation (1) to a single item of property –(a) the amount that may be written off for that property is to be taken to be –(i) if no written down cost is available for that property, the net realisable value of that property; or(ii) if a written down cost is available for that property, that written down cost or the net realisable value of the property, whichever is the higher; and(b) the net realisable value of that property is to be taken to be the available market value of that property or an appraisal by a person who, in the opinion of the Minister or Head of Agency, has special expertise for giving such an appraisal.
Displayed and numbered in accordance with the Rules Publication Act 1953.
Notified in the Gazette on 11 December 2013
These regulations are administered in the Department of Treasury and Finance.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the regulation)
These regulations –(a) provide for the payment and calculation of State Service salaries and allowances; and(b) prescribe the procedure for conducting inquiries under section 59 of the Financial Management and Audit Act 1990 ; and(c) prescribe the liability of a person for the purpose of section 60 of that Act; and(d) prescribe the maximum amount that may be written off by a Minister or Head of Agency; and(e) are made consequentially on the repeal of the Financial Management and Audit Regulations 2003 under section 11 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1992 .