Model financial reports

[stevage]

LGAs have to submit financial reports following a certain format each year, so perhaps they can publish data in a similar format as open data without too much effort:

http://www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/local-government/publications-and-research/planning-and-reporting

The spreadsheet format looks pretty bearable.

[Stephen-Gates]

and for Queensland:

http://www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/local-government/finance/annual-financial-reporting.html

[stevage]

Thanks. Ok, so to dive into the Vic one to begin with, a financial report consists of 5 parts:

1. Comprehensive Income Statement
2. Balance Sheet
3. Statement of Changes in Equity
4. Statement of Cash Flows
5. Statement of Capital Works

First question: should each of these be treated as a separate dataset (and hence standard) in their own right? My initial thought is "yes" - it's likely that there will be interest, and somewhat different uses, in 1, 2, 4 and 5. Not sure about 3.

Balance Sheet

Has two parts: Income and Expenses

Income

Rates and charges Statutory fees and fines User fees Grants - operating Grants - capital Contributions - monetary Contributions - non monetary Net gain (or loss) on disposal of property, infrastructure, plant and equipment Fair value adjustments for investment property Share of net profits (or loss) of associates and joint ventures Other income (Total income)

Expenses

Employee costs Materials and services Bad and doubtful debts Depreciation and amortisation Borrowing costs Other expenses (Total expenses)

Surplus/deficit for the year (ie, Income–Expenses)

Then some "other comprehensive income" stuff I don't understand :)

Balance Sheet

Assets

Current assets (subcategories: Cash and cash equivalents, Trade and other receivables, Other financial assets, Inventories, Non-current assets classified as held for sale, Other assets)

Non-current assets (subcategories: Non-current assets Trade and other receivables, Investments in associates and joint ventures, Property, infrastructure, plant and equipment , Investment property, Intangible assets)

(Skipping the next two)

Statement of Capital Works

Major categories are: Property (Land, Buildings), Plant and equipment, Infrastructure

Discussion

(to be continued...)

[stevage]

Ok, I've put up a draft that follows the Victorian model: http://standards.opencouncildata.org/#/financial-report

Thoughts?

[CloCkWeRX]

Plain text explaining CSV is perfectly understandable for developers; but for the financial folks who generate this data often it might be better to just point them at an example CSV they can download - either a real world sample or a contrived example showing the 'good' format.

[stevage]

Yeah, that's an excellent point, thanks.