the sydney 2000 olympic and paralympic games - Australian Sports ...

PART ONE : FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION BY NSW GOVERNMENT
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
1 (a) PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT
The objective of the report is to provide an analysis of the funding or budget impact of the Olympic and
Paralympic Games to the NSW taxpayer. The report analyses the NSW Government's contribution to
delivering the Games and the cost of providing Games venues, infrastructure and services (“the financial
contribution by the NSW Government” to the Games).
For the purposes of Auditing Standard AUS 802 "The Audit Report on Financial Information Other than a
General Purpose Financial Report", this report constitutes an Other Financial Information report and has not
been prepared in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards.
1(b) SUMMARY OF COST ASSUMPTIONS
(i) Definition of Olympic Costs
In May 1997 NSW Cabinet defined Olympic costs for the purposes of allocating funds for Games initiatives
and requirements. This definition forms the basis of the inclusion of Games costs in this report. Olympic
costs were approved by Cabinet when expenditure satisfied the following criteria:
• Directly related to or incurred in meeting the obligations and conditions of the Host City Contract. Such
expenditure represents the non-discretionary cost of providing essential venues, facilities and services
for the Games.
• Marginal cost of hosting the Olympics, being additional costs incurred by Government in hosting the
event over and above expenditure to which the Government would have been otherwise committed.
• Net cost directly related to the Olympic event, representing gross cost less related revenues and
government transfer payments.
This definition recognises the financial impact of the Games on the NSW budget position.
Under this definition, the following items have been included in Olympic costs:
• The revenues and expenditures of Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG)
and Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee (SPOC).
• The revenues and expenditure of the Olympic Co-ordination Authority (OCA) and other Government
agencies, which specifically relate to commitments made by the Government in the Host City Contract.
This includes the full cost of public servants allocated to the Games agencies of the Olympic Roads and
Transport Authority (ORTA) and OCA. Host City Contract commitments include the provision of
services directly related to the Olympic event, such as transport, security, medical services,
accommodation for Olympic accredited family, officials, media and technicians, contributions to Olympic
Cultural Programs, environmental commitments made in Sydney’s Olympic Bid, athletes services,
facilities and training venues required immediately before and during the Games, modifications to
existing venues specifically for reconfiguration for an Olympic event, and construction of new venues
and infrastructure development.
The definition excludes the following:
• Services not required by the Host City Contract. This includes costs relating to NSW Government
agencies’ core business, which would have been incurred irrespective of the Games.
• The cost of full-time State public servants allocated to the Games and paid through the State Budget
process by way of non-Olympic agencies, for example salaries of police and train drivers. The salaries
of these permanent public servants did not represent an additional cost to the State Budget, as the
Government was otherwise committed to pay their salary. For information purposes, an estimate of the
value of these services is detailed at Appendix 1.
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