Forsyths report executive summary

Published on 12 July 2023

Kiama Council at its Ordinary Meeting next Tuesday 18 July will consider releasing an executive summary of the Forensic Report prepared by accountancy firm Forsyths in April 2022.

Council has previously resolved to release the report to the public (with confidential information redacted) and has also received information requests for the public release of the report, including GIPA requests.

For confidentiality and privacy reasons, aspects of the report were (and remain) inappropriate for public release. These aspects concern employee matters or matters of employment contracts and industrial issues which cannot be released.

It has therefore been determined that an executive summary of the Forensic Report was an acceptable outcome, in terms of sharing what information could be made public.

Kiama Mayor Neil Reilly said: “In May 2022 after formally receiving the Forsyths forensic report, Kiama Council committed to releasing an executive summary of the report, as soon as practically possible."

"Since then we have undertaken a huge amount of work, with Council able to demonstrate much progress in terms of getting ourselves back on track financially."  

At next week’s meeting, Councillors will consider the following resolutions:

1. Endorse the public release of the Executive Summary of the Forsyths’ forensic accounting report

2. Note that the State Government alone holds the power to conduct investigations or enquiries into Local Governments

3. Notes that since receiving the Forsyth report in March 2022 which documented thirty-eight (38) recommendations, to date twenty-one (21) have been actioned and of the remaining seventeen (17) actions, eleven (11) are in progress. Further work will continue to be undertaken by staff as resourcing permits, until all actions are fully resolved.

Forsyths were re-engaged by Kiama Council to prepare the executive summary document and were working on a timeline for delivery of July 2023. This work took time due to existing work commitments and extensive consultation with the NSW Audit Office. 

The executive summary that is proposed to be released to the public covers an assessment of financial data and transactions regarding:

• Cash management
• Blue Haven Bonaira development
• Developer contribution reserves

Cr Reilly said: “We are pleased to be able to now consider the release this executive summary of the Forsyths report. Kiama Council continue to be as transparent as possible, whenever and wherever we can, and I thank our community for coming on this journey with us.”

The Council report notes that, since the Forsyths report was developed and adopted by Council in May 2022, Councillors, the Finance Advisory Committee and ARIC have had multiple workshops, presentations and reports on this matter. 

The report also notes that much information has already been shared with our community that directly address matters raised in this review, and significant progress has been made in addressing and correcting many of these issues.

This work is detailed in plans and documents including our Strategic Improvement Plans 1 and 2, our Long Term Financial Plan, Draft Liquidity Strategy and other recent policies and divestments.

Council has also captured a snapshot of achievements to date this year in our recent ‘Mid-year review’

Read the full Council report in our business papers.