//
© 2026 Zoe. All rights reserved.
Zoe is a legal information platform. Always consult the Federal Register of Legislation for authoritative text.
Commonwealth legislation
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
These Orders set mandatory rules and supporting guidance for preparing annual financial statements for Australian Government Agencies and Commonwealth Authorities for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006. They prescribe statement formats (PRIMA), accounting policies to follow or override, disclosure tables for appropriations, assets, liabilities, administered and departmental items, rounding and certification, and allow limited exemptions by the Finance Minister. They apply to each Agency/Authority, their economic entities and designated Business Operations to enable consistent whole‑of‑government consolidation.
Want the full deep dive?
Zoe can write the in-depth analysis on top of the summary above: how it works, who it affects and what each part actually does.
Direct links to the current provisions in Financial Management and Accountability Orders (Financial Statements for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006).
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
Financial Management and Accountability Orders (Financial Statements for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006)
I, NICK MINCHIN, Minister for Finance and Administration, make these Orders under subsection 63(1) of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.
Dated 19 December 2006
Nick Minchin
Minister for Finance and Administration
1 Name of Orders
These Orders are the Financial Management and Accountability Orders (Financial Statements for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006).
Notes:
2 Commencement
These Orders commence on 1 July 2006.
3 Financial statements for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006
Schedule 1 sets out the requirements for the preparation of annual financial statements for the reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006 for:
(a) subsection 49(2) of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997; and
(b) subsection 50B(4) of the Defence Services Homes Act 1918 except to the extent that these differ from the requirements of AASB 1023 General Insurance Contracts, in which case the requirements of the standard will apply.
Note:
Schedule 1 Requirements for the preparation of Financial Statements for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006.
Requirements AND GUIDANCE for the preparation of Financial REPORTS of AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT entities
FOR REPORTING PERIODS ENDING ON OR AFTER 1 JULY 2006
ACCOUNTING POLICY BRANCH
FINANCIAL REPORTING AND CASH MANAGEMENT DIVISION
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT GROUP
CONTENTS
This document is relevant to all reporting Entities covered by:
The Schedule, policy and guidance contained in this document apply to all financial reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006, until withdrawn or replaced.
The Minister for Finance and Administration (Finance Minister) makes:
These Orders include a Schedule 1, which sets out the actual reporting requirements, part of the applicable Financial Reporting Framework for Australian Government Reporting Entities. Schedule 1 comprises the black letter of this document.
The applicable Financial Reporting Framework for Australian Government Reporting Entities also comprises and requires Entities to:
(a) comply with:
(i) applicable accounting standards and accounting interpretations issued by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) that apply for the reporting period;
(ii) policies issued by the Department of Finance and Administration;
(iii) Commonwealth Authorities and Companies (Report of Operations) Orders 2005 (does not apply to FMA Agencies); and
(b) have regard to:
(i) guidance to Schedule 1 and Annexure A;
(ii) the Statements of Accounting Concepts 1 and 2 (SACs);
(iv) Estimates Memorandums, FinanceBriefs, Finance Circulars, Financial Management Guidance series and other guidance issued by the Department of Finance and Administration.
Where a choice of accounting policy is required to be made that is not covered by these Finance Minister’s Orders, Australian Accounting Standards, AASB Interpretations or other Framework documents, the treatment under Government Finance Statistics (GFS) must be considered.
The purpose of having identical requirements for Government Entities is to achieve uniformity in financial reporting and assist in the preparation of the Australian Government Consolidated Financial Statements as required under s55 of the FMA Act.
The Department of Finance and Administration (Finance) publishes this document, Requirements and Guidance for the Preparation of Financial Reports of Australian Government Entities, which includes the ‘Finance Minister’s Orders’ for reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2006, commonly known as the FMOs (ie Schedule 1 to the Orders above), related policy and guidance. These Finance Minister’s Orders replace previously published Finance Minister’s Orders.
In this document the black letter legislation (i.e. text in bold):
The policies including Annexure A (PRIMA) (ie text in grey letter):
The guidance (i.e. text that appears within boxes with green background):
Policies and Guidance to this Schedule are subject to change by the Department of Finance and Administration as and when these changes are required.
The following numbering conventions are used within this document:
Major sections are parts, denoted by an upper case letter, eg A, B, C.
Other sections are divisions, noted by a number, commencing at 1. Divisions are not always numbered consecutively, to allow for additional divisions at a future date.
Paragraphs of black letter (in each division) commence at .1
Paragraphs of policy commence at .51 followed by uppercase letter ‘P’.
Paragraphs of guidance commence at .71 followed by uppercase letter ‘G’.
Paragraphs are referred to as ‘Sections’.
(Schedule 1 contains no black letter requirements in this Division)
| Active Market<br> | A market where all the following conditions exist:<br>(a) items traded within the market are homogenous;<br>(b) willing buyers and sellers can normally be found at any time; and<br>(c) the prices are available to the public.<br> <br>(AASB 138 para. 8, AASB 136 para. 6, AASB 141 para. 8)<br> |
|---|---|
| Administrative Arrangements Order (AAO)<br> | The functions and activities of the Government are administered in accordance with the AAOs, issued from time to time by the Government and signed by the Governor-General. The AAOs establish the principal matters or Government outcomes to be dealt with by each Department of State, and the Acts of Parliament to be administered by each portfolio Minister.<br> |
| Administered Investments<br> | Investment by the Australian Government in a subsidiary, associate or joint venture that is managed by an Entity on behalf of the Australian Government.<br> |
| Administered Items<br> | Those items that an Entity does not control but over which it has management responsibility on behalf of the Government and which are subject to prescriptive rules or conditions established by legislation, or Australian Government Policy, in order to achieve Australian Government outcomes. Refer to Division 15 for classification decision-points.<br> |
| AEIFRS<br> | Australian Equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards ([Australian Account |
This is an opening excerpt, not the complete document.