The Trust is a body corporate established pursuant to the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Act 1971 (the Act).
In November 1998 regulations were enacted under the Public Corporations Act 1993 requiring that certain provisions of that Act be applied to the Trust. The applied provisions relate mainly to the governance and performance aspects of the Trust’s operations.
The Trust has eight trustees and is subject to the general control and direction of the Minister for the Arts. To assist in its deliberations the Trust has established certain committees. One of these committees is the Finance and Audit Committee which focuses on matters of a financial and audit nature.
The Trust is charged with the responsibility of encouraging and facilitating artistic, cultural and performing arts activities throughout the State; and controlling, managing and maintaining the Adelaide Festival Centre and Her Majesty’s Theatre.
In essence, the Trust is a presenter of arts programs and it aims to provide a balance of art forms for a variety of tastes and age levels. In recognition of its obligations under the Act, the Trust receives an operating and capital grant from the State Government (refer Note 3 to the Financial Statements).
The following functions are undertaken by the Trust.
The Trust maintains various theatre facilities including the Adelaide Festival Centre complex comprising the Festival Theatre, the Space Theatre, the Amphitheatre and the Playhouse in addition to Her Majesty’s Theatre. All of the aforementioned theatre facilities are available for public hire.
From time to time the Trust undertakes entrepreneurial activities which include production of, and investment in, shows most of which tour Australia and sometimes overseas. Depending on the arrangements in place with respect to these shows, the Trust may receive income from royalty fees, management fees and a share of profits. Other activities undertaken include the building of sets for other producers on a contract basis, and the provision of management and accounting services to external productions on a fee-for-service basis.
The BASS ticketing system is operated by the Trust pursuant to a licence agreement. The BASS system is an integrated network encompassing many agents across the State.
The Trust is involved in the staging of various theatrical productions in Adelaide either as a producer or presenter. It is through this activity at the Adelaide Festival Centre complex and Her Majesty’s Theatre that income is generated from theatre rental income, ticket booking fees, catering income and car parking income.
The Trust owns and operates the car park located within the Adelaide Festival Centre complex.
The Trust utilises the services of a contractor to operate the catering function on its behalf. The contractor pays to the Trust profits after meeting the costs of providing the function (including a management fee and an incentive fee based on profit).
The consolidated operating result was a Surplus from Ordinary Activities of $7.4 million compared with a deficit of $3.6 million the previous year. This surplus is mainly attributable to an increase in Grants from Government of $13.5 million.
The State Government capital grant was $9.8 million which is to be used mainly to fund the redevelopment of the Festival Theatre Plaza.
The Trust had its land and buildings revalued during the year resulting in a revaluation increment of $6.7 million.
Subsection 25(2) of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Act 1971 specifically provides for the Auditor-General to audit the accounts of the Trust in respect of each financial year.
The audit program covered all major financial systems and was directed primarily towards obtaining sufficient evidence to enable an audit opinion to be formed with respect to the financial statements and internal control.
During 2001-02 specific areas of Audit attention included:
budgetary control
revenue
accounts payable
payroll
BASS operations
non-current assets
general ledger
contract management.
A letter communicating issues arising from the audit was forwarded to the Chief Executive Officer of the Trust. A satisfactory response to those issues has been received. Further commentary on these issues is contained in ‘Audit Findings and Comments’ hereunder.
Since 1998-99 the audit of the Trust has identified that there was scope for improvement in the internal controls within individual accounting systems. An assessment of the Trust’s internal control structure in 2001-02 revealed that although some improvement had been made, there remains the opportunity to enhance controls in a number of areas. In particular, the establishment of a comprehensive asset register and improved controls over the authorisation of purchase orders and payment of accounts remains to be addressed.
The main issues identified by Audit relate to:
The establishment of a comprehensive and up to date asset register for property, plant and equipment has been a matter that has drawn Audit comment over a period of years. Audit has also commented on the need for the asset register to include sufficient detail to enable the efficient and effective management of the Trust’s non-current assets and to ensure that assets and the related depreciation expense are completely and accurately reflected in the accounting records of the Trust.
Currently the Trust depreciates its buildings including the plant and fittings comprising the buildings at the same rate. Audit is of the opinion that various components of the building have separate and distinct useful lives and as a result it is appropriate that those components be identified and depreciated at different rates.
Audit recommended that the Trust needs to identify the integral components that make up the buildings and determine the depreciation rates that appropriately reflect the useful life of the particular components.
Audit commented on the need for the Trust to reconcile the values of property, plant and equipment recorded in the asset register (once established) to the general ledger on a regular basis so as to ensure the integrity of the data.
The Trust has adequately addressed all the issues raised above in relation to asset management.
The audit of the purchasing and accounts payable activities identified opportunities for improvement in the processes associated with the raising and authorisation of purchase orders, the certification of receipt of goods and services, authorisation of invoices for payment and the payment of accounts by the due date. Issues of a similar nature have been commented on by Audit since 1999.
The Trust advised that the need to raise purchase orders for goods and services ordered and ensure that such orders are authorised in accordance with the Trust’s delegation authority has been reinforced to all staff.
With respect to overdue payments, the Trust advised that it will amend its internal policies and procedures handbook to reflect the requirements of Treasurer’s Instruction 11 ‘Payment of Accounts’.
The audit of the revenue activity revealed opportunities for improvement in the processes associated with the processing of credit notes. Audit suggested that the Trust implement an independent review process of credit notes processed to the system.
The Trust advised that procedures in relation to the processing and authorisation of credit notes have been amended.
Audit commented on the need for the Trust to improve the controls over the authorisation and processing of journal entries.
In its response, the Trust advised it:
will establish journal registers to record all journals processed to the general ledger;
has implemented procedures that will ensure journals processed to the ledger are appropriately authorised.
As required by subsection 36(1)(a)(iii) of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1987, the audit of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust included an assessment of the controls exercised in relation to the receipt, expenditure and investment of money, the acquisition and disposal of property and the incurring of liabilities.
Audit formed the opinion that the controls exercised by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust in relation to the receipt, expenditure and investment of money; the acquisition and disposal of property; and the incurring of liabilities, except for the matters outlined under ‘Audit Findings and Comments’, were sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that the financial transactions of the organisation were conducted properly and in accordance with law.
Note 4 to the Financial Statements discloses the revenues and expenses related to various activities of the Trust.
The following analysis relates to consolidated operations.
Revenues increased by $9 million to $39.5 million. This increase reflects an increase in Government Grants of $13.5 million and a decrease in Programming and Theatre Activity revenue of $3 million. With respect to the increase in Government Grant revenue, $3.7 million relates to operating grants and $9.8 million to capital grants.
Expenses decreased by $2 million to $32.1 million. This decrease is mainly a result of reduced activity in Programming and Theatre Activity and Ancillary Business Operations. Expenditure for these areas decreased by $3.3 million. Depreciation expenditure increased by $1.4 million (refer Notes 2 and 4).
The consolidated Surplus from Ordinary Activities of $7.4 million compared with a deficit of $3.6 million the previous year is mainly attributable to an increase in Government Grants received in 2001-2002 of $13.5 million.
The following chart shows the Operating Result and Government Grants for the last five years.
The written down value of non-current assets increased by $14.9 million to $82.2 million, of which $12.6 million of the increase relates to land and buildings.
The movement in this asset category is mainly attributable to the following:
The Festival Centre Plaza is undergoing a major redevelopment, estimated cost $21.7 million. As at 30 June 2002, $9.9 million had been spent on the redevelopment with a further $1.3 million on leasehold improvements.
Land and buildings were revalued in June 2002 resulting in a revaluation increment of $6.7 million.