Financial Statements audited with positive results

Published on 04 December 2024

Council’s audited Financial Statements for 2023/24 have received a clean audit outcome after being presented at the November meeting of Council.

The Financial Statements provide information regarding Council’s financial performance and position. The Statements are audited by the NSW Audit Office and are then sent to the NSW Office of Local Government.

Cassie Malone, Director - Finance Audit of Audit NSW, who oversaw the audit, presented the statements at the November 20 meeting, stating: “I am very pleased to report to you tonight that the Audit Office issued a clean audit opinion on these statements. This means that the financial statements were fairly presented and (with) no material misstatements.”

Ms Malone also made comment on Council’s levels of available cash and investments, which increased to just over $151 million, with $90 million in restricted funds held.

“Having this level of cash is a really positive sign and it has a positive impact as well on the unrestricted current ratio, the debt service cover ratio and the cash expense cover ratio which all exceed benchmarks set by the Office of Local Government.”

Mid-Western Regional Council performed well against the relevant benchmarks for a number of key performance indicators.

• Council’s operating income in 2023/24 was 3.09% in excess of its operating costs. The benchmark is greater than 0%.

• The ratio measuring capacity to service loan borrowings showed that Council could cover the loan principal and interest payments for borrowings 11 times. The benchmark is greater than two times.

• Council could fund its operations from available cash, cash equivalents and investments for a total of 19.81 months if necessary. The benchmark is greater than three months.

According to the Income Statement, there was $159.6 million of income and $111.9 million of expenses from Council’s operations, resulting in an operating surplus of $58.7 million. The 2023/24 net operating result before grants and contributions provided for capital purposes was a surplus of $692,000. Financial statements can be found on the Council’s website.