Policy No.: D0250

Finance Policy
Framework

Policy Directive

Version No.3.0
Approval date: 23/09/2020

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Contents

1. Policy Statement ..................................................................................................................... 3
2. Roles and Responsibilities ...................................................................................................... 3

2.1. Document owners ........................................................................................................... 3
2.2. Finance Policies and Procedures unit ............................................................................. 3
2.3. Finance Directors, Corporate and Systems Support Services ......................................... 3

3. Policy Requirements ............................................................................................................... 4
3.1. Policy precedence ........................................................................................................... 4
3.2. Finance policy cycle ........................................................................................................ 4

3.2.1. Development .......................................................................................................... 4
3.2.2. Consultation ........................................................................................................... 4
3.2.3. Approval ................................................................................................................ 5
3.2.4. Publication and dissemination ................................................................................ 5
3.2.5. Review ................................................................................................................... 5

3.3. Legacy policies ............................................................................................................... 5
4. Implementation and Monitoring ............................................................................................... 6
5. National Safety and Quality Health Services Standards .......................................................... 6
6. Definitions ............................................................................................................................... 6
7. Associated Policy Directive/Policy Guidelines and Resources ................................................. 7
8. Document Ownership and History ........................................................................................... 7

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Finance Policy Framework Policy Directive

1. Policy Statement

This policy directive prescribes that finance policies support a compliant delivery of services
which are standardised, and meet Treasurer s Instructions, Australian Accounting Standards,
and other regulatory requirements. This policy directive outlines the way in which finance
documents are to be developed, presented, consulted, promulgated, monitored and reviewed.

This policy directive is applicable to the entire SA Health Portfolio, including volunteers,
contractors and student placements.

2. Roles and Responsibilities

2.1. Document owners
It is the responsibility of the document owner to:

&gt; initiate the development of finance documents
&gt; ensure that the appropriate templates are used
&gt; work collaboratively with the Finance Policies and Procedures (Finance P&amp;P) unit
&gt; inform the Finance P&amp;P unit of any new finance requirements, or updates to a finance

document, and
&gt; post publication, provide any associated training where required.

2.2. Finance Policies and Procedures unit
It is the responsibility of the Finance P&amp;P unit to:

&gt; facilitate and assist the document owner with the development of finance documents
&gt; consult with pertinent stakeholders, and seek appropriate approval
&gt; review finance documents for consistency, ensuring that it supports compliant service

delivery, and it ensures all relevant legislative requirements are met
&gt; maintain a policy register, and
&gt; disseminate approved finance documents on the intranet, via Oracle Assist and the

Policy Distribution System (PDS).

2.3. Finance Directors, Corporate and Systems Support Services
It is the responsibility of the finance directors within Finance, Corporate and Systems
Support Services Division (C&amp;SSS) to review all policies and where necessary, approve
applicable finance documents.

Policies and procedures relating to Procurement, Supply Chain Management (PSCM) or
payments system is governed by the policies and procedures relating to the PCSM framework.

Where a procedure is performed within Shared Services SA, it is deemed they have the
responsibility to document and comply with that procedure.

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3. Policy Requirements

Finance documents are critical to business operations, and must be implemented and
complied with; to ensure SA Health finance staff delivers financial components and
deliverables in a consistent and efficient manner.

Finance documents are required to support the Chief Executives, Governing Boards and the
Chief Executive Officers obligations under Treasurer s Instruction (TI) 2 Financial
Management, and TI 28 Financial Management Compliance Program. These obligations
include:

&gt; developing and documenting finance documents, which are made available to all
relevant staff within SA Health

&gt; managing a regular, robust and systematic review process,
&gt; supporting the transparent management of financial risks, in collaboration with the

Financial Management Compliance Program, and
&gt; maintaining accessible finance documents for health site accreditation purposes.

Policy priorities will be managed to align with SA Health s fraud and corruption, risk
management, audit and legislative requirements.

3.1. Policy precedence
To provide consistent financial information across SA Health, the following precedence
will occur:

1. All finance policy directives and policy guidelines on the PDS supersede all other
finance policy and guidelines published on other systems.

2. Where a finance policy directive or policy guideline is not published on PDS, then
any finance policy or guideline that exists on Oracle Assist (intranet site) supersedes
those on the Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW), Local Health Networks
(LHN), or SA Ambulance Services (SAAS) sites, or other health services intranet
site; unless they refer to an active Legacy system process that remains in operation.

3.2. Finance policy cycle
3.2.1. Development

Finance policies and guidelines will embody the prescribed format, and must align and
comply with applicable Australian Accounting Standards, Treasurer s Instructions, the
Accounting Policy Framework, legislative and any other regulatory requirements; ensuring
accounting and finance practices are documented and implemented consistently within
SA Health.

The Finance P&amp;P unit must be notified and receive all draft finance policy directives and
guidelines prior to being approved by the appropriate approval authority, ensuring a
consistent service delivery is provided, and the document is registered for audit and risk
management purposes.

LHN / SAAS finance staff may develop, maintain, approve and register their own
individual finance procedures; where a single SA Health procedure is not operationally
required.

3.2.2. Consultation
Pertinent finance documents will be provided to relevant stakeholders for their
consultation, including Financial Business Managers operating within each LHN / SAAS.
Where finance documents are provided to a stakeholder for consultation, comments that
are considered value adding will be included.

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3.2.3. Approval
All new finance policy directives, procedures and guidelines will be endorsed by the
General Manager, Policy and Compliance prior to being approved. For publication onto
Oracle Assist, resulting in Operational Release, all new policy directives will be approved
by the Director, Corporate Finance Services, Finance, C&amp;SSS.

Policy directives, once approved and published on Oracle Assist, are deemed mandatory
compliance under the Service Level Agreement arrangements between Corporate
Finance Services and the LHNs &amp; SAAS.

Finance procedures and guidelines will be approved by the pertinent Finance Director,
within C&amp;SSS, prior to being published on Oracle Assist. Managers may approve other
associated finance documents within their designated responsibility.

The Finance P&amp;P unit will ensure finance policy directives are ratified by the appropriate
approval authority prior to being published onto PDS.

3.2.4. Publication and dissemination
To ensure all finance documents are easily accessible; publication will initially be through
the intranet site Oracle Assist SA Health Finance Policies, of which the Finance P&amp;P
unit is the custodian. Policy directives will reside on Oracle Assist for a period of no
greater than 12 months (unless there are extenuating circumstances that warrant
prolonged operational release ).

Guidelines may remain published on Oracle Assist, under the original approval of the
sponsoring Director, when it is determined that not all SA Health staff need to be aware of
it, ie. only finance staff.

By default, all ratified policy directives will be published on the SA Health internet site.
Exemptions from this default position will align with SA Health wide policy requirements.

Regular internal communiques will inform all finance staff of any new or updated finance
documents. It is important that these regular communiques are disseminated through the
LHNs/SAAS via their local finance unit.

3.2.5. Review
Each finance document will have a review date of no greater than five years, and the
Finance P&amp;P unit will be responsible for initiating the scheduled review with the document
owner.

3.3. Legacy policies
As long as modules within the legacy systems continue to be utilised, there cannot be a
single version of the truth with regard to some finance policies. Thus, full implementation
of SA Health wide finance policies cannot be completed until all of the legacy finance
systems are decommissioned.

Any finance policy relating to an active legacy process or application is the responsibility
of the Finance P&amp;P unit. As approved by the then Portfolio Executive in November 2012,
where a policy or procedure has been superseded, the Finance P&amp;P unit have the
authority to request the relevant intranet site to either, remove the out-of-date document
and, if applicable, create a new hyperlink to the new SA Health wide finance policy
directive.

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4. Implementation and Monitoring

This policy directive will be effective when all finance policies are appropriately approved and
available to all SA Health users in a timely manner.

Finance policies will be monitored as part of the SA Health Financial Management Compliance
Program.

5. National Safety and Quality Health Services Standards

N/A

6. Definitions

In the context of this document:

&gt; finance documents include policy directives, procedures, policy guidelines, factsheets,
and any other supporting documents that would assist SA Health staff to execute their
financial responsibilities within SA Health. These documents are the responsibility of the
Finance Branch, C&amp;SSS. A finance document, in the context of this policy directive, does
not include step-by-step detailed local operational documents which are maintained and
approved at the local operating area.

&gt; legacy documents are those documents which are used to support and provide
consistent application for staff utilising legacy finance modules. Most primary finance
functions have transitioned over to Oracle Corporate Systems since its implementation in
July 2010. It is acknowledged that some functions such as Patient Billing and some
country health Accounts Receivable activities will continue indefinitely to use components
of legacy finance modules.

&gt; operational release provides an environment for finance policies to be trialled for
operational evaluation and refinement before seeking final ratification and formal release
via PDS. It is a component of the SA Health Finance Policies webpage on Oracle Assist.

&gt; Oracle Assist is the finance document repository which is used during the Operational
Release phase of a policy directive and contains finance documents.

&gt; policy directive is any document that contains material that must be understood by,
complied with and implemented across SA Health as part of ongoing operations whether it
is a short term or permanent direction. Policies express mandatory requirements and
implementation responsibilities for SA Health. They may also state specific performance
specifications. Policies will often refer to, or arise out, of legislative requirements, and
may be underpinned by a guideline.

&gt; Policy Distribution System (PDS) is the official electronic publication of policy
documents by SA Health. It provides a central repository for all policy documents.

&gt; policy guideline establishes best practice for SA Health. There is an expectation that
guidelines are followed, however, it has flexible requirements and implementation may be
developmental or staged according to local circumstances. Compliance is less precise in
scope, direction and level of performance.

&gt; SA Health is the brand name for the health portfolio of services and agencies responsible
to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. SA Health is the corporate identity for the
portfolio only and not the legal entity. The legal entities include the Local Health Networks,
SA Ambulance Service and the Department for Health and Wellbeing (as an
administrative unit under the Public Sector Act 2009).

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7. Associated Policy Directive/Policy Guidelines and Resources

&gt; Oracle Assist SA Health Finance Policies Webpage

&gt; Policy Governance Policy Directive

&gt; Policy Governance Policy Guideline

&gt; System-wide Risk Management Policy Directive

&gt; System-wide Integrated Compliance Policy Directive

&gt; Treasurer s Instruction 2 Financial Management

&gt; Treasurer s Instruction 28 Financial Management Compliance Program

8. Document Ownership and History

Document developed by: Policy and Compliance, Finance, Corporate and System Support
Services

File / Objective No.: 2011-13019 | A238563 | OTH-P8001
Next review due: 30 November 2024
Policy history: Is this a new policy? N
Does this policy amend or update and existing policy? Y
If so, which version? V2.0
Does this policy replace another policy with a different title? Y
If so, what title? Finance Policies and Procedures Framework Policy

Directive
ISBN No.: 978-1-76083-323-7

Approvals
Approval
Date

Version Who approved New/Revised Version Reason for Change

23/09/2020 V3.0 Chief Finance Officer, DHW Scheduled review

22/01/2016 V2.0 Portfolio Executive Scheduled review

07/07/2011 V1.0 Portfolio Executive Original

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.

Contents
1. Policy Statement
2. Roles and Responsibilities
2.1. Document owners
2.2. Finance Policies and Procedures unit
2.3. Finance Directors, Corporate and Systems Support Services

3. Policy Requirements
3.1. Policy precedence
3.2. Finance policy cycle
3.3. Legacy policies

4. Implementation and Monitoring
5. National Safety and Quality Health Services Standards
6. Definitions
7. Associated Policy Directive/Policy Guidelines and Resources
8. Document Ownership and History

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