Supporting financial documentation

• Annual accounts
• Applications for less than $10,000
• Applications for $10,000 to $50,000
• Applications for over $50,000
• Receipt of grant funds

Annual accounts

The level of financial information required to be included with an application depends on the amount of money the applicant is requesting.  There are three bands

• Less than $10,000
• $10,000 - $50,000
• Over $50,000

If the applicant organisation is required to have audited accounts by its constitution or to comply with any legal compliance requirements (e.g. Charities Commission registration), then the most recent copy of the accounts must be submitted, regardless of the amount of the grant request.

Where the applicant organisation has been established for less than 16 months prior to the closing date of applications, and is unable to met the financial requirements relating to the grant application amount, the most recent statement of financial performance as at a date no more that 3 months before the grant application closing date is to be provided.  The approval and signature requirements for the statement of financial performance relate to the grant amount requested and are set out below.

Where accounts are more than 9 months old at the application closing date, or where significant changes have occurred since end of the period covered by the accounts, a financial year to date statement of income and expenditure approved by the applicant’s governing body must also be supplied.

Applications for less than $10,000

For applications requesting less than $10,000, the applicant must supply an income and expenditure statement for the organisation’s most recent financial year approved by the applicant organisation’s governing body.

Applications for $10,000 to $50,000

For applications requesting amounts of $10,000 to $50,000, the applicant must provide their most recent independently reviewed annual accounts, signed by the reviewer.

The reviewer must be a suitably qualified person who is independent of the organisation, and has reasonable knowledge of finance and accounting, for example, a bank manager or retired accountant or a person who holds recognised accounting qualifications.

Recognised accounting qualifications means an accounting graduate (B.Com Accounting or equivalent), an Associate Chartered Accountant, Chartered Accountant or Accounting technician or some other specified accounting or auditing qualification and experience.

Applications for over $50,000

For applications requesting amounts over $50,000, the applicant must provide their most recent independently audited accounts, including the auditors report. 

Independently audited accounts means that the financial accounts of an organisation have been examined by an accredited professional (such as an accountant) who is independent of the organisation.

The purpose of examining the financial accounts is to determine whether the financial transactions meet the appropriate standards within the financial reporting framework used by accredited professionals.

Once the examination is completed, the accredited professional will provide an opinion about the validity and accuracy of the organisation’s financial accounts.  This opinion is contained in the accredited professional’s (auditor) report.

Receipt of grant funds

The receipt of grant funds must be acknowledged as a separate entry in the organisation’s accounts, or in a note to the accounts in the organisation’s annual report.