CA ANZ has lodged a submission jointly with CPA Australia on MBIE’s consultation paper on draft Incorporated Societies Regulations 2023 and proposed initial fees under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022. Our feedback focused on matters relating to reporting and audit.

Of particular interest is the Regulations:

• Define "net current assets" for the purpose of which societies needs to prepare general purpose financial statements, and
• Set the threshold for which societies need to have their financial statements audited.

We reiterate some comments made in our submission on the preceding consultation which have not been actioned, for example that the term ‘total operating expenditure’ – which is used to prescribe the audit threshold – is not defined. We also recommend that the annual return includes some basic financial information.

Other observations:

• There does not appear to be a requirement for the auditors’ report on the financial statements (if any) to be presented at the annual general meeting.
• There does not appear to be a requirement for a society to send a copy of the auditors’ report (if any) on the financial statements to the Registrar.

We support the:

• Definition of ‘total current assets’, ‘cash’ and ‘cash equivalent’. 
• Interim approach of rolling over registration and restoration fees from the Incorporated Societies Act 1908.