Compliance trends
Links
The Commission measures compliance trends in financial reporting and annual returns of registered organisations.
The information in those documents is critical to making sure that each organisation's members can understand how their organisation is performing. They also allow members to be involved in the financial management of their organisation.
Compliance snapshot
The Commission helps federally registered organisations comply with legislative requirements, monitoring their performance to help inform priorities, services and other activities. Registered organisations can also use data to understand their own achievements and priorities, and to see how they compare against other organisations. 2022 compliance snapshot |
Report card – financial reporting
The report card for financial reporting identifies the common financial reporting compliance issues of the relevant year. When preparing the financial report, reporting units and registered auditors should pay close attention to the focus areas identified in the report card. Report card – 2021 financial reporting |
Compliance data
Financial reports
Of the financial returns with a 2022 year end date that were lodged and assessed for compliance by 31 December 2022, 74% met the key compliance measures, compared to 70% in 2021, 84% in 2020 and 81% in 2019. A range of factors can influence the extent to which lodged financial reports comply with relevant financial reporting guidelines. The Commission continues to work productively with organisations and auditors, seeking to ensure continuous improvements in compliance.
Annual returns
In 2021–22, 100% of organisations lodged their annual returns by the statutory deadline of 31 March. The Commission will continue to directly engage with organisations who may be experiencing issues with lodging on time. It is anticipated that such engagement will not be required in future years and voluntary compliance will continue.
Officer and Related Party (ORP) disclosure statement
The Commission has seen improvement in compliance with the obligation to lodge an Officer and Related Party (ORP) disclosure statement. In 2021–22, 99.7% of organisations and branches lodged their statements within the statutory timeframes compared with 99% the previous year. This an excellent result.

Non-compliance
Although the non-compliance numbers are small, the Commission continues to work with organisations, taking appropriate action in each specific case.
The Commission understands that lodging within the specified time frames is just one measure of compliance and does not address the qualitative aspects of the reports.
The Commission is now working with organisations to increase both voluntary levels of compliance and the qualitative levels of compliance with:
- the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009
- Commissioner’s Reporting Guidelines
- AASB standards.