Abc and sbs efficiency Study

Appendix B: ABC Charter

(1) The functions of the Corporation are:

(a) to provide within Australia innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard as part of the Australian broadcasting system consisting of national, commercial and community sectors and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, to provide:

(i) broadcasting programs that contribute to a sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of, the Australian community; and

(ii) broadcasting programs of an educational nature;

(b) to transmit to countries outside Australia broadcasting programs of news, current affairs, entertainment and cultural enrichment that will:

(i) encourage awareness of Australia and an international understanding of Australian attitudes on world affairs; and

(ii) enable Australian citizens living or travelling outside Australia to obtain information about Australian affairs and Australian attitudes on world affairs; and

(ba) to provide digital media services; and

(c) to encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia.

Note: See also section 31AA (Corporation or prescribed companies to be the only providers of Commonwealth-funded international broadcasting services).

(2) In the provision by the Corporation of its broadcasting services within Australia:

(a) the Corporation shall take account of:

(i) the broadcasting services provided by the commercial and community sectors of the Australian broadcasting system;

(ii) the standards from time to time determined by the ACMA in respect of broadcasting services;

(iii) the responsibility of the Corporation as the provider of an independent national broadcasting service to provide a balance between broadcasting programs of wide appeal and specialized broadcasting programs;

(iv) the multicultural character of the Australian community; and

(v) in connection with the provision of broadcasting programs of an educational nature—the responsibilities of the States in relation to education; and

(b) the Corporation shall take all such measures, being measures consistent with the obligations of the Corporation under paragraph (a), as, in the opinion of the Board, will be conducive to the full development by the Corporation of suitable broadcasting programs.

(3) The functions of the Corporation under subsection (1) and the duties imposed on the Corporation under subsection (2) constitute the Charter of the Corporation.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be taken to impose on the Corporation a duty that is enforceable by proceedings in a court.

Appendix C: SBS Charter

(1) The principal function of the SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio, TV and digital media services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians, and, in doing so, reflect Australia's multicultural society.

(2) The SBS, in performing its principal function, must:

(a) contribute to meeting the communications needs of Australia's multicultural society, including ethnic, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; and

(b) increase awareness of the contribution of a diversity of cultures to the continuing development of Australian society; and

(c) promote understanding and acceptance of the cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity of the Australian people; and

(d) contribute to the retention and continuing development of language and other cultural skills; and

(e) as far as practicable, inform, educate and entertain Australians in their preferred languages; and

(f) make use of Australia's diverse creative resources; and

(g) to the extent to which the function relates to radio and TV services—contribute to the overall diversity of Australian TV and radio services, particularly taking into account the contribution of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the community broadcasting sector; and

(h) to the extent to which the function relates to radio and TV services—contribute to extending the range of Australian TV and radio services, and reflect the changing nature of Australian society, by presenting many points of view and using innovative forms of expression.

(3) The principal function of the SBS under subsection (1) and the duties imposed on the SBS under subsection (2) constitute the Charter of the SBS.

(4) Nothing in this section imposes on the SBS a duty that is enforceable by proceedings in a court.

(5) A subsidiary function of the SBS is to carry on, within or outside Australia, any business or other activity incidental to the fulfilment of the Charter.

Appendix D: ABC Budget and Governance Framework

Board and Subcommittees

The ABC Board comprises the Managing Director, the non-executive Chairperson and not fewer than five, nor more than seven non-executive Directors (including the Staff-elected Director). The Board has established three subcommittees, comprising Human Resources, Audit and Risk and Finance.

Except for the ABC's Staff-elected Director, all non-executive directors of the ABC Board have been appointed following recommendations of the independent Nomination Panel, following public advertising and short-listing on the basis of merit. The assessment of the Department's specialist adviser was that the current boards are highly experienced and well-credentialed for their roles.

Executive Committees

The Managing Director meets with all the Division Heads and COO as the 'ABC Executive' (13 in total) each Monday to consider urgent business for the week and also has an extended meeting once a month on longer term issues.

The MD also convenes the Audience Strategy Group monthly comprising the COO and Directors of the content generating Division (News, TV, Radio).

Corporate planning and budget process

The ABC prepares a Strategic Plan in accordance with its obligations under section 31A of the ABC Act³⁵. This must set out the objectives of the organisation, outline its overall strategies and policies to achieve those objectives and fulfil its functions, a forecast of revenue and expenditure, and any performance indicators and targets. The Board may review and revise a strategic plan at any time. As soon as practicable after a Board prepares or revises a strategic plan, it must be provided to the Minister. Ministers are not required to approve these plans, nor table them in Parliament. However, the plans are made publicly available.

The Strategic Plan is used to guide Divisional Planning activities, which in turn guide individual performance objectives. The Strategic Plan is used by each Division to develop a Business Plan that identifies specific and measurable activities that are intended to achieve the high level priorities of the Corporation. For the previous two years the MD has required Divisions to include an efficiency objective in their Business Plans to achieve annual efficiencies of between 2 and 5 percent.

The ABC Budget process involves preparation of annual operating expenditure and capital expenditure budgets for consideration by the Board in June, with an update in December. The ABC operational Budget process involves overall available resources and cost pressures being determined from a top-down perspective and Divisional business needs, objectives and drivers influencing activity levels, and any additional own-source revenue, being determined from the bottom-up. The ABC states that these two inputs are then interwoven to determine the allocation of available resources.

Each Division is required to prepare an operational budget submission. These are discussed with the COO and MD to justify relative prioritization for bids seeking funding in the budget process. Divisional operational budget requests are then presented to the ABC Executive for consideration and collective assessment of strategic priorities. Where necessary, final decisions are made by the COO and MD.

Divisions are also required to submit separate proposals for capital expenditure. Where a capital proposal has associated operational budget requirements, a separate operational budget submission is required. Each Division prepares a Divisional ICT road map in conjunction with ABC Technology Division, and this, as well as asset replacement and maintenance needs, inform the Division's capital budget submission. Once submitted each Divisional Director presents their bid to the other divisional Directors. The Divisional Directors then participate in a voting round as a group, prioritising proposals by a system of allocating points, which results in a list of final proposals. The ranking of final proposals is then presented to the ABC Executive for final endorsement. Divisional Directors regularly meet with the COO and MD throughout the year to discuss Divisional activities and budget performance. Reports of revenues and expenditure against the approved Budget are prepared for each meeting of the ABC Board.

Risk Management

The ABC established its Enterprise-wide Risk Management Framework in 2007, providing structure for the management of risk consistent with the International Standard - Risk Management (ISO 31000:2009) and the Comcover Better Practice Guide for Risk management (2008). It was last reviewed and approved by the Audit and Risk Committee in 2012.

Audit

Group Audit is the ABC's internal audit department which reports to the Audit and Risk Committee of the Board. Group audit develop the annual audit plan and these audits are delivered through a co-sourced model, involving in-house staff and outsourced external providers.

Delegations

Delegations are clearly described for key roles and provide certainty about authority for decision-making. All expenditure, regardless of the level of delegated authority, must be within approved budgets. Delegations cannot be sub-delegated to any other officer.

Other Governance Functions

The ABC has established a Compliance Framework model detailing internal controls and governance procedures, together with other sources of assurance and information that enable the ABC to submit its certificate of compliance each year to the Department of Finance.

Accountability and Reporting

Annual appropriation from the Commonwealth is set in the Portfolio Budget Statement (PBS). The outcomes description for ABC in the PBS is to inform, educate and entertain audiences throughout Australia and overseas through an innovative and comprehensive media and related services, to provide audience access to ABC satellite and analog terrestrial radio and television (noting that analog television services have now converted to digital-only broadcasting) which is, at a minimum, maintained year-on-year through the management of Transmission Service Agreements, and to provide audience access to ABC digital television and radio services, in accordance with approved implementation policy, through the rollout and maintenance of the associated distribution and transmission infrastructure. For the ABC each of these outcomes is divided into program activities each of which have KPIs. ³⁶ ABC's performance against these KPIs are reported annually in its Annual Report, and evaluated as part of its triennium funding submission when it submits its Cost and Performance report to the Minister for Communications.

Equity and diversity annual report

The Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987 (EEO Act) requires the ABC and SBS to publish an Equity and Diversity Annual Report to be provided to the Minister within three months of the end of the period to which the report relates, and is required to be tabled in both Houses of Parliament within 15 sitting days of receipt by the Minister.

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