Accounting policy matters relating to cemetery trusts

Overview

Public cemeteries throughout Victoria are managed by volunteer cemetery trusts.  Currently 14 of the larger trusts are subject to a range of more rigorous reporting and accountability requirements under the Financial Management Act 1994 and the Audit Act 1994.

To assist the larger trusts in meeting these reporting requirements, the Department of Health convened a working group, the Cemeteries Financial Policy Committee (CFPC) comprising representatives from a number of key government agencies and other stakeholders impacted by the identified issues. 

The CFPC aims to address a range of financial and reporting matters by developing policies for the industry and undertaking a range of work to assist trusts to meet their reporting requirements.

The documents below relate to the accounting policies developed by the CFPC.

Cemetery Annual Report Guidelines

The Cemeteries Annual Report Guidelines 2008-09 have been prepared to assist trusts required to report under the Financial Management Act 1994(the Act) to meet the requirements of the Act, section 4.2 of the Standing Directions of the Minister for Finance under the Act and Financial Reporting Directions. The guidelines can be downloaded below.

Information for trusts regarding GST and cemetery fees and charges

The following Q&A sheet has been updated (7 August 09) to include further clarifications for trusts on the process for the removal of GST from cemetery fees and charges, and the process for providing or claiming refunds. In addition an attachment has been provided by the CCAV, this is designed to assist your trust to process BAS statements correctly to reflect these changes, and recoup GST amounts already remitted to the ATO.

The removal of GST from cemetery trust products and services - Q&A (39kb, pdf)

Attachment - CCAV Letter to members (206kb, MS Word)

Download documents

Asset Capitalisation Threshold (39kb, pdf)

Change in Asset Capitalisation Thresholds Process (49kb, pdf)

Cost of inventory (35kb, pdf)

Cemetery Land Accounting Policy (41kb, pdf)

Q & A Cemetery Land Accounting Policy - implementation issues (28kb, pdf)

Implementation of the Common Chart of Accounts for Cemeteries and Crematoria - Part 1 (1.2mb, pdf)

Implementation of the Common Chart of Accounts for Cemeteries and Crematoria - Part 1 (1.4mb, pdf)

Sample accounting policy note for 2006/07 Financial Statements (19kb, pdf)

Land valuation disclosure for 2006-07 (18kb, pdf)

Treatment of GST in the cash flow statement (16kb, pdf)

Mausoleum establishment and construction requirements (33kb, pdf)

Methodology for the valuation of Victorian cemeteries for financial reporting purposes (pdf, 281kb)

Modelling the financial impact of the application of AASB 102 Inventories to cemetery land designated for interment purposes - Final report August 2008 (pdf, 543kb)

Report on Findings – Accounting treatment for pre-paid fees 6 March 2009 (604kb, pdf)

Cemetery annual reporting guidelines

Cemetery Annual Reporting Guidelines for 2008 - 2009 (579kb, pdf)

Cemetery Annual Reporting Guidelines for 2008 - 2009 (2,590kb, MS Word)