Management and accountability
Finance
Over recent years PSR has built up retained earnings of over $12 million, through:
- change strategies that created ongoing sustainable efficiencies
- inability to complete its caseload due to legal challenges to its proceedings
- changes to Medicare Australia’s internal procedures during 2004–05 and 2005–06 that resulted in a significantly reduced workload for PSR.
The recommendations of the 2006 Review of the PSR Scheme were finalised in July 2007. Once the funding requirements of the recommendations were identified, PSR was able to return $10.631 million to the Department of Finance and Deregulation. This amount was excess to PSR’s ongoing requirements.
PSR’s 2007–08 Budget appropriation was $6.148 million, of which $1.120 million in underspend was returned to the Department of Finance and Deregulation as part of the $10.631 million. A further $28,000 was returned through the increased efficiency dividend that was applied across government.
The underspend this financial year is a direct result of time between PSR receiving a request from Medicare Australia and the bulk of the expenditure incurred associated with that request. PSR received 27 requests from Medicare Australia in 2006–07 and most of that expenditure was incurred in 2007–08. Similarly, most expenditure associated with the 50 requests PSR received in 2007–08 will occur in 2008–09.
The Australian National Audit Office’s report on PSR’s 2007–08 financial statements was unqualified and was signed on 8 September 2008 (see Appendix 1).