Annual Reporting Responsibilities of ARC Centres of Excellence

Introduction

Official reporting (and accounting) requirements apply to the expenditure of public funds.  For each calendar year for which there has been at least six months of activity, all ARC Centres of Excellence are required to produce and submit to the ARC an Annual Report by 31 March of the year immediately following the reporting year.

In an effort to streamline reporting requirements, the ARC has introduced the following changes:

As of 2019 reporting year and onwards,

1. the Centre Outputs and Details of Income and Expenditure report (CODIE) is no longer required.
2. A high level, one page financial statement is required in the Annual Report
3. An additional metric for gender equity and diversity is required to be submitted separately with the submission of the Annual Report.

As of 2018 reporting year and onwards,

1. Annual Reports are no longer required to be submitted in hardcopy.  An electronic copy is to be emailed to ARC-Postaward@arc.gov.au

Completing your Annual Report

As per the Funding/Grant Agreement, the following information should be included in the ARC Centres of Excellence Annual Report:

Annual Report Requirements	CE14	CE17	CE20
the extent to which the ARC Centres of Excellence objectives as set out in the Funding Rules and the Centre Proposal have been met	X	X	X
summary of highlights, achievements in research and other outputs achieved resulting from the use of the Funds, including any advances in knowledge, relevant publications or international collaboration	X	X	X
case studies and/or examples of the Research Impact of the Centre, particularly where interdisciplinary research has been undertaken		X	X
any issues affecting the progress of the Centre or its Research Program, and a statement of mitigation strategies	X	X	X
measurement and accounting of the Centre’s performance against performance targets as set out in Schedule D	X	X	**
a detailed activity plan for the next 12 months	X	X	X
all expenditure for the calendar year, including any specific Assets or Intellectual Property;	X
funding and/or other resources provided by the Administering Organisation, Collaborating and Partner Organisations, and any other sources of support	X
details of the lodgement or reasons for non-lodgement of publications, data, specimens or samples with an appropriate repository, museum or archive in Australia	X	X	**
summary of the Centre’s actions over the reporting year against the administrative and operational requirements as set out in clause B.6		X	X
summary of the Centre’s activities in developing national and international links, outreach, public awareness and communication with the wider community. This could include data and information on outputs/outcomes such as conference presentations and keynote addresses, visitors to the Centre, visits by Centre researchers to national and international groups and institutions relevant to the Centre’s Research Program, media about the Centre (traditional, social, online, etc), unique website hits, innovative outreach options, etc		X	X
any other matters which from time to time may be specified by the ARC as matters which must be included in an Annual Report	X	X	X

**CE20 – to accompany separately from the Annual report

Financial one-page summary

A high-level, one page financial statement is required in the Annual Report. An example is provided below. 

*Example high level expenditure reporting required for ARC Centres of Excellence. Income is divided across different source types and expenditure is split across high level categories.

INCOME	$
ARC Grant
State Government Grants
Other Grants
University Contributions
Partner Contributions
Other Income
TOTAL

EXPENSES	$
Salaries
Travel and Visitor Support
Equipment
Workshops and Conferences
Management and Administration
Education, Outreach and Communications
PHD support
TOTAL

Equity and Diversity Metric

An additional metric on gender equity and diversity across the roles of the ARC Centre of Excellence is required to be submitted separately with the Annual Report. Targets will not be required for this metric.  This data is to be recorded as at 31 December of the reporting year.

The template with example data is provided below:

*Example KPI metric for Gender Equity and Diversity

Gender Equity and Diversity (census date 31 December 2019)	Gender Equity Number of females	Diversity - Indigenous Number of indigenous personnel	Diversity  - Disability Number of personnel with a disability	Total personnel
Chief Investigators	7	1	1	21
Partner Investigators	4	0	0	9
Board membership	1	0	0	5
Students	13	2	0	30
Administrative staff	2	0	0	3

Submitting an Annual Report

By 31 March of the year following the reporting year, ARC Centres of Excellence must submit via email to ARC-Postaward@arc.gov.au:

• Annual Report containing the reporting requirements for your ARC Centre of Excellence as noted in the Funding/Grant Agreement
• A separate attachment including the Equity and Diversity metrics
• CE20 only, either in the Annual Report or separately:
  • measurement and accounting of the Centre’s performance against performance targets as set out in Schedule D; and
  • details of the lodgement or reasons for non-lodgement of publications, data, specimens or samples with an appropriate repository, museum or archive in Australia.

Contact Us

For further information please contact the Major Investments team at the ARC on +61 2 6287 6600 or email your enquiry to ARC-Postaward@arc.gov.au.