Annual reporting
ORIC reporting services
We prepare the reports your corporation must lodge with the Registrar each year under the CATSI Act, and we work alongside your independent auditor to get them signed and lodged on time. Reports are due within six months of your year end, which is 31 December for a 30 June year.
What we prepare
Which of these apply to your corporation depends on its registered size and its income for the period. We confirm your obligations against the Registrar’s current reporting guide before any work starts.
- General report — the corporation’s details as at year end. Every corporation lodges one.
- Financial report — the accounts themselves, prepared to the applicable standards.
- Directors’ report — the board’s account of the year, for large corporations and anyone over $5 million.
- Audit report — prepared by your independent auditor, not by us. We manage their queries.
The reporting obligation, in both languages
What the Act says
“The CATSI Act requires every corporation to prepare one or more reports every year and give them to members as well as lodge them for publishing on the Register of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations.”
What that means
Three things follow from that sentence, and boards often only know the third:
- Reporting is not optional, and it happens every year.
- The reports go to your members, not only to the Registrar.
- Once lodged they are published — anyone can look them up.
Checked against ORIC — Annual reporting, .
What it costs to get wrong
Corporations that have not lodged appear on a list the Registrar publishes openly. Funders look. Banks look. Anyone deciding whether to work with your corporation can look. That visibility is usually a bigger practical problem for a board than the compliance consequence itself.
There is a second cost that gets less attention. Reports can be lodged on time and still be wrong, most often because grant income has been treated as earned when it was not, and that can attract a qualified audit opinion. A qualification then follows the corporation into every funding conversation for the next year.
How an engagement runs
Boards changing accountants for the first time usually want to know what they are signing up for. It is four steps, and the first two cost you nothing.
- We check where you stand. From the public register we can see what has been lodged and what has not, before you commit to anything.
- We confirm what your corporation actually owes. Which reports apply depends on registered size and income, and we check that against the Registrar’s current guide.
- We prepare. Books brought to a reporting standard, then the reports drafted. If an auditor is required, we hand over and manage their queries.
- You lodge. Directors are responsible for lodgement, so the board stays in control of it. We make sure there is nothing left to work out.
If your reports are overdue
Late lodgement is common and it is fixable. Corporations that have not lodged appear on a public list, so the position is visible, and it is recoverable. The first step is establishing which years and which reports are outstanding, which we can do from the public register before you commit to anything.
Why we won’t audit your accounts
Subdivision 339-D of the CATSI Act requires your auditor to be independent of whoever prepared the accounts. We prepare; your auditor audits. That separation is what makes an audit worth having.
We never audit. What we do is find you an auditor and run the audit for you. See finding an auditor, or our guide on whether you need an audit at all.
Frequently asked questions
When are ORIC reports due?
Reports must be lodged within six months of the end of your corporation’s reporting period. Most corporations run a 1 July to 30 June year, which makes the deadline 31 December. If your corporation uses a different financial year, the six-month rule still applies from your own year end.
Which reports does our corporation actually need?
It depends on your corporation’s registered size — small, medium or large — and its consolidated gross operating income for the period. Not every corporation lodges every report. We check your position against the Registrar’s current reporting guide and tell you exactly what applies before any work starts.
Who can sign the audit report?
It depends on your corporation’s size. For large corporations, and any corporation with income of $5 million or more, it must be a registered company auditor, an audit firm with one, or an authorised audit company. Below that, a CPA, a chartered member or affiliate of CA ANZ, or a member or fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants may also audit — which includes us. But not for you, if we prepared your accounts: whoever audits must be independent of the people who did the books.
What happens if we lodge late?
Corporations that have not lodged appear on a public list maintained by the Registrar, and continued non-lodgement can lead to compliance action. It is a recoverable position, but it does not resolve itself. If you are behind, the useful first step is establishing exactly which years and which reports are outstanding.
Can you take over from our current accountant mid-year?
Yes. Changing accountants part-way through a year is routine — we request the handover information from your existing accountant, review what has been done, and pick up from there. Your board should not have to wait for a year end to get the reporting under control.