Today the Australian National University’s Expenditure Taskforce provided an update to our community on consultancy engagements and expenditure.
Key points from the update include:
* ANU will update the way we report consultancy expenditure, so the data better reflects actual spending on these services.
*Up until now, our budget categorisation of "consultancy" spending has been very broad. It’s included activities such as:
- Education agent commissions (e.g. paid for the recruitment of international students)
- Professional services to support research contracts
- Professional services (e.g. audit, tax advisory)
- Software development and support
- Contractors engaged through third parties
* This broad categorisation can result in misinterpretation and lack of clarity.
* Improving how we define and classify spending on consultancies will enhance the accuracy of our budget analysis and forecasting.
* It will also support the University to identify potential cost saving opportunities and enable more meaningful comparisons with similar organisations.
* It will improve clarity and transparency for our community.
* Consultancy reporting in the Annual Report will now be distributed across the following categories:
- Contracted and professional services (this category is most reflective of actual consultancy spend, but also includes items such as insurance broking).
- Research (e.g. consumables, training materials)
- Commissions to agents
* The $53.9 million in consultancy reported in the 2023 Annual Report, breaks down into the new categories as follows:
