Many charities and other organisations in the not for profit (nfp) sector are heavily reliant for their on-going viability on funding from various philanthropic funders. So what are some key trends from philanthropic trusts, foundations or individuals that these charities and nfps should be aware of?

By now you should have received four MOE updates on financial reporting and payroll matters, the most recent of which was issued last week. These updates are giving clear and concise guidance on Novopay matters.

The extension of the current banking staffing balancing period has been extended until 31 March 2014. This means that schools will carry over a staffing balance from 2012 into 2013, and there will be no automatic reimbursement of under-use or recovery of over-use during 2013 by the Ministry.

You might remember that in previous years we have required the year end SUE summary report to be signed by the principal and board chairperson as confirmation that the employees and amounts paid appear correct. We now need you to do the same for this year.

Not unsurprisingly as the issues have become clearer the OAG has recently requested that we perform some additional work relating to Novopay. This is in addition to work we have already done.

Whilst activist and US fundraiser Dan Pallotta is a little controversial in being gay and a father of triplets, and because of some of the charities that he has raised the profile of, this TED video is a really interesting challenge of thinking.

It is the season for annual fraud surveys. Sadly they never show the problem is going away. However not every organisation ends up taking action. We look at the implications.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the new Government Ministry combining the previous Ministry of Economic Development, has now released a further issues paper regarding their proposals to legislate assurance over the annual financial statements for large and medium sized charities. This follows a wide range of feedback received by them on their earlier discussion paper released back in April 2012.

Sadly this is the reason that many schools we have spoken to so far have not had a great start to the year. As your auditors we too have been dealing with the impacts of Novopay already. We have been doing our bit to ensure that the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) is kept up to date with what we are hearing and seeing at schools as well as liaising with MOE troubleshooting staff.

Annually the MOE publishes guidance on a range of topics affecting school financial statements. One such document is the Annual Report Instructions. This has answers to a number of common issues the MOE is seeing in their day to day work.