33Financial viability

33 Financial viability

For the purposes of paragraph 19‑12(b) of the Act, the Minister must have regard to the following matters when determining whether a higher education provider approved under section 16-25 of the Act is financially viable, and likely to remain so: (a) the provider generates sufficient income to meet operating payments, debt commitments and, where applicable, to allow growth while delivering quality higher education; (b) the provider’s total assets exceed the provider’s total liabilities (the provider has a positive equity position), and there is no evidence to suggest that this might change; (c) if the provider has been operating for 3 years or more—the provider has operated at a profit for at least 2 of the 3 most recent financial years for the provider; (d) if the provider has at least 100 enrolments in courses of study that lead to higher education awards—at least 20% of the provider’s revenue for the previous financial year came from sources other than payments that gave rise to FEE‑HELP debts; (e) the provider has a net positive cash position from operating activities (determined in accordance with the accounting standards); (f) the provider is not providing guarantees, loans, dividends or loan repayments that could have a material effect on the provider’s finances; (g) the provider is not providing its assets as security other than under a commercial loan arrangement with an authorised deposit‑taking institution (within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959).