Annual Report 2010-2011 - Western Australian Museum

ACHIEVEMENTS
finAnciAl AnD Asset MAnAGeMent
Western Australian Museum ANNUAL REPORT 2010/2011
The WA Museum commissioned a Financial Management and Business Sustainability Review in August 2010 to help
determine how it could better manage its business. The review encompassed the organisation’s financial planning and
management, budgeting and accounting, management structures, cost control, income generation and commercial
activity. Independent consultants KPMG were commissioned to conduct the review following a tender process and
recommendations were approved by the Board of Trustees in February 2011. The Financial Management and Business
Sustainability Review has allowed the Museum to take stock of its strengths and identify critical areas for improvement
in performance. While the review found that the Museum has to better manage its costs and increase non-government
sources of income (although this is already a relatively high proportion of income compared with its peers), it also
found that costs have been increasing and that there is a clear case for additional funding which the State Government
recognised with supplementary funding in 2010/2011 of $2.7 million.
During the year, the Western Australian Planning Commission approved the demolition of the former US Navy
laundry in Finnerty Street, Fremantle. The laundry, which was erected as a temporary measure by the American
armed forces in 1942, was used variously as conservation laboratories and staff accommodation by the Museum,
but has been vacant for the last six years for health and safety reasons. Following demolition, the site will be handed
over to the City of Fremantle, which also supported the demolition. The land will form part of the Fremantle Arts
Centre site and the Centre will ensure the building’s cultural heritage values are interpreted for future generations.
HuMAn ResouRces
The Western Australian Museum is poised for significant organisational change. With planning for a new museum
continuing and a new strategic direction released (with unprecedented involvement by staff and stakeholders and
embracing the recommendations arising from the recent Financial Management and Business Sustainability Review)
the organisation now has the tools at its disposal to reshape itself for a new generation of museum-goers.
The Financial Management and Business Sustainability Review included a recommendation that the organisation’s
structure be revised in line with its strategies. As aligning the Museum’s organisational structure with its new
Strategic Plan will take some time, an interim structure was put in place in May, focused on changes to the role
of the Executive Team and associated changes in reporting arrangements. This offers an opportunity to test out
some new ways of working prior to a permanent restructure being approved by the Board of Trustees and fully
implemented.
As part of the Museum’s organisational review, a comprehensive review of its establishment was undertaken. Part
of this exercise included the abolition of a number of obsolete positions from the human resources system, ensuring
reporting lines are current and that position information reflected the most current situation. This has enabled the
Board to accurately monitor staffing numbers to comply with the State Government’s FTE ceiling cap as well as
ensure that resources are adequately allocated across the whole organisation.
RisK MAnAGeMent
BACK CONTENTS FORWARD
Significant achievements have been made as part of the Museum’s integrated approach to risk management. A
strategic risk register is currently being developed in alignment with the Museum’s new Strategic Plan. The coming
year will focus on further embedding the risk management into the culture of the Museum as well as establishing
a risk management committee, comprising the senior executive team of the Museum, to provide oversight and
assurance and improved risk management reporting and analysis to the Board of Trustees.
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