The department of health has issued a reminder to approved providers that they will need to meet new reporting requirements through the 2020 21 Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR), which is due for most providers by October 31, 2021.
Changes to the 2020 21 ACFR include:
- new prudential and financial reporting requirements which came into force on 1 July 2021 through amendments to the Accountability Principles 2014. This includes a new requirement for some residential care providers to submit a financial support statement as part of their ACFR. The full list of legislative amendments can be found on the Federal Register of Legislation website. An in depth explanation is available in the explanatory statement.
- expansions to information collected in the ACFR, such as requiring residential aged care providers to report income and expense information at the facility level. Details on changes to the 2020 21 ACFR are available on the ACFR forms web page.
Changes to reporting requirements will:
- offer greater transparency of the financial viability of approved aged care providers to enable earlier identification and monitoring of at-risk providers
- enable regional viability analysis of aged care services through facility level financial reporting
- support the Star Ratings system that will be published for consumers.
