Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009

A reporting unit must:

keep such financial records as correctly record and explain the transactions and financial position of the reporting unit, including such records as are prescribed; and

keep its financial records in such a manner as will enable a general purpose financial report to be prepared from them under section 253; and

keep its financial records in such a manner as will enable the accounts of the reporting unit to be conveniently and properly audited under this Part.

Where an organisation consists of 2 or more reporting units, the financial records for each of the reporting units must, as far as practicable, be kept in a consistent manner.

This would involve, for example, the adoption of consistent accounting policies and a common chart of accounts for all reporting units in the organisation.

This requirement is subject to subsection (4) which allows reporting units to keep some records on a cash basis.

Financial records of an organisation may, so far as they relate to the income and expenditure of the organisation, be kept on a cash basis or accrual basis, at the option of the organisation.

If an organisation keeps the financial records referred to in subsection (1) on an accrual basis, it may keep the financial records for its membership subscriptions separately on a cash basis.

An organisation must retain the financial records kept under subsection (1) for a period of 7 years after the completion of the transactions to which they relate.