NSW Audit Office - Financial Reports – 2001 - Volume 7 – Compliance Review of NSW Government Superannuation

The Audit Office Of New South Wales

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• Publié par: Mophing
• Nombre de lectures: 13
• Langue: English

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Auditor-General’s Report to Parliament 2001 Volume Seven 7
Compliance Review of
NSW Government Superannuation Schemes
This is the second part of a review of this topic.
The first part looked at the role of individual government agencies in maintaining relevant records,
providing information to the Superannuation Administration Corporation (SAC) and forwarding
contributions to SAC. The findings were included in Volume Two of the Auditor-General’s 2001
Report to Parliament. A summary of those findings is contained under Background.
The second part of the review looked at the way SAC processed this information.
KEY FINDING
We found that SAC complied with its processing and reporting requirements.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Trustee and SAC should continue to educate New South Wales government agencies about their
superannuation obligations.
More agencies should provide information to SAC electronically.
DETAILED FINDINGS
We reviewed SAC's processing and reporting by checking:
¤ the accuracy and processing time of contributions and salary information
¤ the accuracy of member entitlement statements.
We found that SAC:
¤ processes member and employer records accurately
¤ validates transactions and allocates them to an appropriate account
¤ acts appropriately when it cannot process transactions
¤ processes transactions promptly
¤ prepares accurate member statements.
Although SAC encourages agencies to provide information electronically, many employers still
submit paper returns. This is particularly the case in Pooled Fund Schemes, which do not need to list
individual contributions. The First State Super Scheme (FSS) submits about 80 per cent of returns
electronically.
BACKGROUND
Agencies submit to SAC contribution details and annual salary information for processing by SAC
through members’ and employers’ accounts. SAC sends each member an entitlement statement, at
least annually.
Compliance Review of NSW Government Superannuation Schemes8 Auditor-General’s Report to Parliament 2001 Volume Seven
Current superannuation laws require that:
¤ for the four Pooled Fund Schemes, agencies contribute to SAC within 7 days of the end of the
contribution period
¤ for the FSS Scheme, agencies contribute to SAC by the end of the month following the
contribution period.
Our earlier review found that, while agencies complied with the majority of superannuation
requirements, they did not comply with some of the more critical requirements. Problems areas
included:
¤ agency reconciliations between amounts invoiced by SAC and agency payroll records
¤ the time it takes for agencies to advise SAC of superannuation information
¤ the time it takes for agencies to remit contributions to SAC
¤ inadequate training of agency staff.
The Trustee, in conjunction with SAC, set up an employer education program to rectify some of these
problems.
SUPERANNUATION ADMINISTRATION CORPORATION RESPONSE
As noted, SAC has conducted a number of Employer seminars in conjunction with the Trustee
Executive - specifically designed as a consequence of the issues raised by the Audit Office. In
addition our Employer Relationship Managers have responded to individual requests from Employers
for more training. This has encompassed work-site visits where one-on-one assistance could be
provided as well as attendance at work place forums involving payroll & HR staff. SAC continue to
be actively involved in the promotion & implementation of E-business strategies, specifically:
¤ encouraging employers to maximise their use of the web to send all superannuation data
¤ encouraging the use of electronic contribution payment methods such as EFT or Direct Debit
¤ offering employers continued web education and support
¤ providing employers with further functionality to encourage their use of the web.
The 80 percent of contribution transactions received electronically come from 85 employers. The
remaining 20 percent received on paper, from around 200 employers, represents an average 70,000
contribution transactions per month. There is a significant manual effort (and cost) required to re-key
this paper-based data into member records, and this imposes costs on the administrator.
SAC are convinced all employers should embrace the technology of sending their files by the web as
it will immediately save them significant time in meeting their regular superannuation commitments.
Over time it will allow SAC to work more effectively with employers in reducing errors and double
handling of data. SAC will continue to assist employers and their payroll providers in implementing
e-business solutions so they can meet their superannuation obligations.
TRUSTEES’ RESPONSE
The Trustees of both Funds are working with SAC to maximise the use of electronic interface to
provide superannuation data. In keeping with the Government push to electronic service delivery, the
Trustees would not be averse to effectively mandating electronic delivery of FSS contribution data,
with the support of the Government. (Exceptions, of course, would be permitted.)
The focus is on assisting employers to satisfy their requirements and responsibilities under the scheme
legislation. This is an ongoing process, which the Trustee will continue to support.
Compliance Review of NSW Government Superannuation Schemes