Summary of Significant Changes
to the Finance Minister’s Orders for Financial Reporting
(incorporating policy and guidance) and PRIMA Forms of
Financial Statements applying to 2013-14
The purpose of this document is to provide entities with an overview of the significant changes to the
Finance Minister’s Orders for Financial Reporting (FMOs) and PRIMA Forms of Financial Statements
(PRIMA Forms). Additionally, it offers guidance to assist entities in identifying which of these changes
may constitute a change in accounting policy, as required by AASB 108 Accounting Policies, Changes in
Accounting Estimates and Errors, and thus might require disclosure (whilst considering materiality and
the entity’s own circumstances).
Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
FMOs
General
 As per 2012-13, rather than create new orders, the 2013-14,
changes were implemented by amending the Finance
Minister’s Orders (Financial Statements for reporting
periods ending on or after 1 July 2011) through the Finance
Minister’s Amendment Orders (Financial Statements for
reporting periods ending on or after 1 July 2013).

No impact: As per 2012-13, this means that the FMOs package
(incorporating Orders, Policy and Guidance) published by
Finance retains the reference Finance Minister’s Orders
(Financial Statements for reporting periods ending on or after 1
July 2011). The amendments have been incorporated into the
package.
1
 The “Notes” to Divisions 4, 8, 17 and 23 in relation to 201213 changes have been removed.

 This information for 2013-14 changes is now located in the
Explanatory Statement to the Amendment Orders.

Disclaimer: These changes have been assessed by Finance as likely to constitute a change in accounting policy in accordance with the
principles of AASB 108 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors to assist entities in preparing and presenting
their financial statements. However, entities will need to consider whether the changes actually constitute a change in accounting policy
for their own individual circumstances then work through the potential reporting implications whilst considering materiality. Hence, not all
of the likely changes in accounting policy might apply to an entity or require disclosure.
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
No impact
 Sections containing guidance on changes applicable for the
first time (e.g. “changes in 2011-12” and “third balance
sheet”) have either been removed or condensed.

No impact
 References to the financial statement “balance sheet” have
been amended to “statement of financial position” for
consistency with AASB 101 and the other financial
statements.

Impact: As discussed in the PRIMA Forms section below,
entities will be required to retitle the affected statement.
 General edits have been made to reflect:
 the 2013 Machinery of Government changes;

 withdrawn/superseded guidance material; and
 the renumbering of AASB 119 (where the requirements are
unchanged).
No impact
4 Definitions
 The definition “Cost Recovery” has been amended to remove
reference to a Finance Circular and to reflect changes to cost
recovery.

Impact: Entities are now required to refer only to the Australian
Government Cost Recovery Guidelines in defining cost recovery.
8 Authoritative
Requirements
 Guidance has been added in relation to the referencing of
AASs and Interpretations for 2013-14 as a result of separate
‘not-for-profit’ and ‘for-profit’ versions.

Impact: For-profit entities should take care in the applicability
of AASs and Interpretations and ensure compliance with the
‘for-profit’ version, where applicable.
11 Early
Adoption of
Accounting
Pronouncemen
ts and
Application of
Tiers of
Australian
Accounting
Standards
 The title of the Division has been amended to incorporate a
new section in the Division, namely “Application of Tiers of
Australian Accounting Standards”.
 Section 11.3 and guidance have been added to provide that,
for the purposes of AASB 1053 (which came into effect this
financial year), entities are required to apply Tier 1 reporting
requirements.


Impact: Entities would not be permitted to adopt the reduced
disclosure regime, hence they would continue with current
reporting requirements.
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
17 Approved
Exemptions
 The exemption for PFCs and GBEs at section 17.1 has been
removed due to changes to AASB 119 no longer permitting
the choice.
*
Impact: PFCs and GBEs must now apply the direct to equity
option.
*Only applies to PFCs and GBEs where they did not previously
apply the direct to equity option.
23 Director/
Senior
Executive
Remuneration
 The “Reportable salary” definition has been clarified to
reflect only the specified items where they are reported on
an individual’s payment summary as per Finance’s policy
intent.

Impact: Entities are to ensure they report as per the revised
definition and items not included in the payment summary are
to be excluded.
 Amended section 23.83G to reflect the change in AASB 119’s
definition of “short-term employee benefits”.

Impact: Entities will need to ensure that only employee benefits
that meet the revised “short-term employee benefits” definition
are categorised as such.
30 Financial
Assets –
General
Information
 Added guidance to clarify that AASB 13’s fair value
measurement and disclosure requirements do not apply to
appropriations receivable.
33 Valuation of
Non-Financial
Assets
 Added guidance to direct entities to AASB 13 where
valuation is at fair value.
45 Financial
Instruments
 Removed section 45.51P as the disclosure requirement is no
longer applicable due to a modified version of the disclosure
requirement being transferred to AASB 13.

No impact

Impact: Entities would need to ensure they apply the updated
fair value measurement requirements.
 Clarified and updated guidance in relation to financial
instrument disclosures as a result of the withdrawal of
AGN 2008/1 and the introduction of AASB 13, which amends
the financial instruments suite of AASs.


Impact: Entities would need to ensure they apply the updated
fair value measurement and disclosure requirements.
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
87
Administered
Investments
 Amended fair value guidance to account for the introduction
of AASB 13 and changes to AASB 139.
101
Departmental
Appropriations
 Added guidance in relation to receivables and departmental
supplementation.
104 Disclosure
of
Appropriations
 Section 104.18 has been amended to remove reference to
CAC Act provisions as the disclosure does not apply to
CAC Act entities.

Impact: Entities would need to ensure they apply the updated
fair value measurement requirements.

No impact

No impact
120 Special
Accounts and
FMA Act
Section 39
Investments
 Added section 120.11 to clarify that Table B is to be prepared
on a ‘recoverable GST exclusive’ basis.
123
Competitive
Neutrality and
Cost Recovery
 Amended section 123.2 and added guidance to reflect
changes to the cost recovery disclosure requirements.

No impact: PRIMA Forms already requires this basis.

Impact: As per Note 42 below, entities must now disclose as per
the new requirements.
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
PRIMA Forms
General
 Guidance in various financial statements and notes that
disclosure of a line item is not required if an entity does not
have anything to disclose for that item has been removed as
this duplicates the requirements in Part K.

No impact
 General tidy-up of the use of AAS references to improve
consistency between the statements, schedules and notes.

 This includes the removal of detailed references where they
are general in nature and do not refer to disclosure
requirements (excluding changes to disclosure
requirements, for example, new disclosures).

No impact
 Various guidance (including disclosure references) have been:

 updated for minor changes in terminology and/or
accounting standard references;
 amended as a result of changes to AASB 119; and
 amended or removed as a result of the introduction of
AASB 13.
Impact: Entities will need to ensure they are aware of changes
to requirements, such as separation and redundancies.
 General improvements to the layout of various Notes have
been made, such as to improve consistency between Notes.

Impact: Entities should reflect these changes, where applicable.
General
Information on
Preparation of
Financial
Statements
 References to prior and current years in PRIMA have been
replaced with 20X1 and 20X2 respectively to simplify future
amendments to PRIMA Forms.

No impact: Entities would continue to show prior and current
years (e.g. 2013 and 2014 respectively).
 General edits have been made to amend the title of the
financial statement “balance sheet” (and references to this)
to “statement of financial position” for consistency with
AASB 101 and the other financial statements.
 As part of ongoing improvements, references to “profit or
loss” have been replaced by “net cost of services” to better
reflect the operating environment and reporting format
adopted by Commonwealth entities


Impact: Entities will be required to reflect these changes
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
accordingly.
Statement of
Comprehensive
Income and
Administered
Schedule of
Comprehensive
Income
 Line item “Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit plans”
has been amended to “Remeasurements of defined benefit
plans” in accordance with the reissuing of AASB 119.
Administered
Reconciliation
Schedule
 Improvements to the general layout of the schedule have
been made.
Note 1
Summary of
Significant
Accounting
Policies
 The Employee Benefits section has been amended (including
components being reworded) to reflect changes to AASB 119,
including renumbering.

Impact: Entities will need to reflect this change in both the
Statement and the Administered Schedule.

Impact: Entities will need to reflect this change. However,
entities should note that there has been no change as to what is
required to be disclosed.

Impact: Entities are to reflect this change as appropriate in their
Note 1.
 As a result of AASB 13:

 added the Fair Value Measurement section;
 removed the revaluation table from the Property, Plant and
Equipment (PP&E) section; and
 amended the wording in the PP&E and Investment
Properties sections.
Impact: Entities will need to ensure their Note 1 reflects these
changes, as appropriate.
Note 4 Own
Source Income
 Added line items “supplementation” and “workload
agreements” and associated guidance to Note 4L.

Impact: Where applicable, entities will need to include these
line items.
Notes 7 and 26
Fair Value
Measurement
 Added “Fair Value Measurement” Notes and guidance to
comply with the implementation of AASB 13 Fair Value
Measurement.

Impact: Entities will need to incorporate these Notes.
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
Notes 9 and 28
Non-Financial
Assets
 Property, plant and equipment disclosure corresponding
with AASB 116.77 amended to align with changes to
AASB 116 following the implementation of AASB 13.

Impact: Entities will need to reflect this change, including the
change in Note reference.
Note 10
Payables
 Added guidance in relation to “statutory payable”.
Note 18 Senior
Executive
Remuneration
 For Table A, relocated “annual leave accrued” to “other longterm employee benefits” in-line with changes to AASB 119.

No impact

Impact: Entities will need to reflect this change.
 For Tables B and C, amended the “reportable salary” footnote
to align with changes to the FMOs.

 Also, bandings have been amended so as to not foresee
threshold amounts.

Impact: Entities will need to update their tables to reflect this.
Notes 20 and
35 Financial
Instruments
 Guidance concerning fair value and offsetting has been
clarified to reflect the fact it has no relationship with new
offsetting disclosure requirements in relation to financial
assets and liabilities per AASB 132.42.

No impact
 Sections of the Fair Value Measurement disclosures were
removed as either they are no longer required or have been
modified and transferred to the comprehensive Fair Value
Measurement Note as they are now required for all assets
and liabilities at fair value.

Impact: Entities will continue to disclose carrying amount
versus fair value amount and fair value changes due to credit
risk per current practice, but would now be required to disclose
all other fair value components as per the new AASB 13
requirements in the Fair Value Measurement Note.
 Guidance has been added to the liquidity risk table to ensure
entities are following the requirements of AASB 7.B11D in
relation to finance leases after the discovery of an error in
PRIMA Illustrative.

No impact
Note 37
Appropriations
 Guidance to Note 37F has been amended.

No impact
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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Reference
Changes
Change in
accounting
policy1
Note 42
Competitive
Neutrality and
Cost Recovery
 Due to the changes in the cost recovery disclosure,
restructured the location of the competitive neutrality notes.

No impact
 The cost recovery disclosure has been changed to reflect
aggregation of cost recovery information suitable to financial
statements.

Impact: Entities will need to reflect this change.
 Added or new section  Amended, clarified or moved  Removed
Summary of Significant Changes to the FMOs and PRIMA Forms |
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