Skip to main content

Non-government schools that are registered charities must report annually to the ACNC by submitting an Annual Information Statement and, for medium and large-sized charities, a financial report.

Since 2016 we have published the financial reports of non-government schools on the ACNC Charity Register.

To make reporting to the ACNC easier for these schools, we currently have an arrangement with the federal Department of Education (DoE) that streamlines the process.

Under this arrangement, we can use certain financial information that a non-government school provides the DoE in its Financial Questionnaire and financial report to complete the financial section of its Annual Information Statement.

This means that when a non-government school does its Annual Information Statement, it does not need to complete the financial section or submit a financial report – we will have the information to complete this for them.

The aim of this arrangement is to establish a single point of collection for financial information that satisfies the requirements of both the ACNC and the DoE.

Charities that can participate

A non-government school registered with the ACNC as a charity can participate in this arrangement.

A registered charity that represents only non-government schools can also participate. To be eligible, this representative charity must:

  • represent only non-government schools
  • submit the Financial Questionnaire to the DoE on behalf of its schools.

Charities that cannot participate

There are two common types of charities associated with non-government schools that cannot participate in this reporting arrangement.

  • A charity that is associated with a non-government school but is registered with the ACNC independently (with its own ABN) and does not submit a separate Financial Questionnaire to the DoE.
    Typical examples of these charities include:
    • school building funds
    • scholarship funds
    • early learning centres
    • Parents and Friends Associations.
  • A charity that acts as a representative entity for charities other than primary or secondary education.
    Typical examples include charities that act as representative entities of:
    • churches
    • community centres
    • welfare services.

These charities must complete the financial section of their own Annual Information Statement.

How to participate in the reporting arrangement

To participate in this reporting arrangement for an eligible non-government school, you need to log in to the ACNC Charity Portal and complete the Annual Information Statement.

When you get to the financial section of the Annual Information Statement, you will see this question: ‘Would you like to provide financial information?’

To participate in the reporting arrangement, the school should answer ‘No’ to this question.

Answering ‘No’ lets us know to use the information submitted in the DoE's Financial Questionnaire to complete the financial section of the school's Annual Information Statement.

When completing the rest of the Annual Information Statement, it is optional for a school to provide its full-time equivalent (FTE) staff number. If a school does not provide the FTE staff number in its Annual Information Statement, we will get it from information submitted to the DoE.

Generally, the financial information and annual financial reports for schools that participate in the reporting arrangement are not published immediately on the ACNC Charity Register. They are generally published on the Charity Register at a later date.

Mapping financial information from the DoE

The DoE's Financial Questionnaire contains a preview of how the financial information will map to the financial section of the ACNC's Annual Information Statement.

The information displayed in the mapping template and tables below, as well as the school’s annual financial report, will be published on the ACNC Charity Register.

For a registered charity that represents multiple schools (and the schools are not individually registered with the ACNC), we will display aggregated information from the DoE Financial Questionnaire in its Annual Information Statement.

If these schools submitted multiple financial reports to the DoE, the financial reports will be combined into a single document and published on their representative charity's record.

As part of the transitional reporting arrangement with the commonwealth Department of Education (DoE) for non‐government schools that are registered charities, the ACNC accepts the Financial Questionnaire submitted by a school to populate the Finance section of the Annual Information Statement.

The table below maps individual Financial Questionnaire items that relate to each Annual Information Statement reporting category.

Comprehensive Income Statement Summary

Gross income:

a: Revenue from government including grants

RI.070 & RI.070B – State government recurrent grants

RI.080 – State government education allowances

RI.090 & RI.090B – State government interest subsidy

RI.100 ‐ Commonwealth government general recurrent grants program

RI.110 & RI.110B – Indigenous education grants

RI.120 & RI.120B – All other Commonwealth government recurrent grants

CI.010 & CI.10B – Commonwealth government capital grants

CI.020 & CI.020B – State government capital grants

RI.040 & RI.040B – ABSTUDY Allowances paid direct to the school

b: Donations and bequests

RI.065 & RI.065B – Donations

CI.055 & CI.055B – Donations for Capital Purposes

c: Revenue from providing good or services

RI.010 & RI.010B – Fees & charges

RI.030 & RI.030B – Other receipts from students

RI.050 & RI.050B – Total income from overseas students

CI.030 & CI.030B – Fee/levies associated for capital purposes

CI.040 & CI.040B – Capital funds received from overseas students

TA.010 & TA.010B – Trading activities income

TA.030 & TA.030B – Income not already captured in FQ

d: Revenue from investmentsRI.061 & RI.061B ‐ Investment income
e: Other revenue

RI.020 & RI.020B – Income from trips & excursions

RI.060 & RI.060B – Private income

g: Other income CI.050 & CI.050B – Other capital income

Expenses:

i: Employee expenses

RE.010 – Executive – Senior executive staff salaries

RE.030 & RE.030B – Principal, General teaching staff – lay & religious

RE.040 & RE.040B – Salaries all other staff

RE.050 & RE.050B – Other staff related expenses

RE.060 & RE.060B – Superannuation (Employer contribution only)

RE.070 & RE.070B – Long service leave

j: Interest expenses

RE.100 & RE.100B – Interest – Bank overdraft & recurrent loans

RE.110 & RE.110B – Capital & bridging loans & finance leases

m: All other expenses

RE.080 & RE.80B – Operating Expenses

RE.090 & RE.090B – Buildings and grounds – operations, building & equipment maintenance

RE.120 & RE.120B – Amortisation – Leasehold land & building & assets

RE.130 & RE.130B – Depreciation

RE.140 & RE.140B – Total bad & doubtful debts expense

TA.020 & TA.020B – Trading activity expenditure

RE.085 & RE.085B ‐ Management Fees

RE.095 & RE.095B ‐ Rental Expenses

TA.040 & TA.040B ‐ Expenditure not already captured in FQ

Balance Sheet Extract

Assets:

r: Total current assetsGF.020 – Total current assets (including data from GF.010)
s: Non-current Loans: ReceivablesGF.035 – Non‐current loans receivable
t: Other non-current assets

+ GF.040 – Total non‐current assets

‐ GF.035 – Non‐current loans receivable

u. Total non-current assetsGF.040 – Total non‐current assets

Liabilities:

w: Total current liabilitiesGF.030 – Total current liabilities
x: Non-current Loans: PayableGF.045 – Non‐current loans payable
y: Other non-current liabilities

+ GF.050 – Total non‐current liabilities

‐ GF.045 – Non‐current loans payable

z: Total non-current liabilitiesGF.050 – Total non‐current liabilities
Was this page useful?