The purpose of the Finance and Audit Advisory Committee (FAAC) is to:
Key topics reviewed in 2021:
During 2021 the CEO’s Corporate Finance Team concentrated on:
The CEO Policy and Funding Team works with the Commonwealth and State Governments regulatory organisations and schools for funding and related compliance obligations. The team also manages the financial activities for a number of strategic projects.
The allocation of recurrent funds to schools remains at the forefront of the team’s responsibilities. 2021 was the second year of the Australian Government’s new approach for calculating a school’s capacity to contribute (CTC) score and transitional Student Resourcing Standard model. The Policy and Funding Team undertook a comprehensive review of recurrent funding taking into consideration government policy and CESA’s own needs-based funding arrangements. Amendments to CESA’s Funding Mechanism were consequently implemented and factored into school and system budgets for 2022 and beyond.
In addition, the following was undertaken:
A new State Government grants program commenced in 2021 which culminated in $1 million being distributed to 12 regional schools to subsidise or enable the expansion of their bus services for students travelling to and from school. The program, worth $4M over 4 years, stemmed from a review led by the State Government exploring how government school buses in regional areas could provide travel for all students, regardless of whether they attended a government or non-government school.
The Policy and Funding Team managed the financial affairs for two new Diocesan schools that were under construction during 2021, in preparedness for their opening in January 2022, namely Compass Catholic Community and St Francis of Assisi College. This involved developing annual and long-term budgets and being responsible for all accounting, banking and compliance matters with regulatory organisations.
