Annual Report 2008-09 - Legal Services Commissioner

Chapter SEVEN
Governance
Five year financial summary
The following table provides a summary of the Legal Services Commissioner’s financial activity for the past four years. As the
Legal Services Commissioner was established on 12 December 2005, data is only available for four reporting periods. The
data for the 2005-06 reporting period is only partial and accounts for under seven month’s operation. Full details of the Legal
Services Commissioner’s financial activity can be found on page 59 of this report.
Table: Four year summary of financial operations
2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 12/12/2005-06
Revenue from Funding 6,330,360 6,576,200 5,350,000 2,950,000
Other Revenue 3,015,436 2,905,153 1,218,923 422,046
Total Revenue 9,345,796 9,481,353 6,568,923 3,372,046
Total Expenditure 9,300,774 8,417,543 6,955,922 3,116,235
Net Result 45,022 1,063,810 -386,999 255,811
Net Cash Flow from operating
activities
(295,312) 1,350,813 25,975 731,597
Total Assets 3,050,691 2,524,595 1,372,924 251,584
Total Liabilities 2,043,680 1,562,607 1,474,746 222,219
Summary of financial activity in 2008-09
During 2008-09, the Legal Services Commissioner’s result
from ordinary activity was affected by the following:
• The 2008-09 budget was developed on the basis
that the Legal Services Commissioner would refer or
delegate 200 new complaint files to the Law Institute of
Victoria for processing. As a result of the decision of the
Court of Appeal of the Victorian Supreme Court in May
2008 in the matter of Byrne v Marles a new procedure
resulted in all files in the possession of the Law Institute
of Victoria being returned to the Legal Services
Commissioner for additional steps. As a result the file
load at the Legal Services Commissioner increased
significantly and the number of files at the Law Institute
of Victoria dropped accordingly. A transitional plan was
developed that identified a number of steps to alleviate
the situation. These resulted in the liability of the Legal
Services Commissioner to pay reasonable costs of the
Law Institute of Victoria being reduced substantially and
with the savings the Legal Services Commissioner was
able to employ staff to handle the additional workload.
The net variance of salaries and service cost was an
increase from 2008-09 of $190,000. The costs were
within budget parameters.
• Consultant and legal costs increased from $535,000
to $1,048,000. The increase indicates an increase of
operating activity and the increasing complexity of legal
matters considered by the Legal Services Commissioner
as well as Tribunal and court proceedings.
Audit Committee
Chairperson: Ms Marie Turner
Members: Mr John Coates, Mr Nick Daicos
The membership of the Legal Services Commissioner’s Audit
Committee is composed of three people from external
organisations, each of which has extensive experience
in financial management. The committee met five times
during 2008-09.
The Committee reviews reports of audits conducted by the
external and internal auditors, assesses the management
of risk, and determines the adequacy of the Legal Services
Commissioner’s financial and accounting controls and
administrative processes.
54 Legal Services COMMISSIONER 2009 Annual Report