The following is a brief summary of the overall financial position of the agency.

The information is unaudited. Full audited financial statements for 2018-19 are attached to this report.

Statement of Comprehensive Income

 2018-19 Actual
$000s
2018-19 Budget
$000s
Variation
$000s
2017-18 Actual
$000s
Revenues30 98528 9911 99424 804
Expenses26 07324 824(1 249)23 629
Net result before distributions 4 912 4 167 745 1 175
Income tax equivalent1 4741 251223352
Net result after Income Tax Equivalents3 438 2 916 522 823

Statement of Financial Position

 2018-19 Actual
$000s
2018-19 Budget
$000s
Variation
$000s
2017-18 Actual
$000s
Current assets10 2709 3259458 958
Non-current assets24 34324 20114223 913
Total assets34 61333 5261 08732 871
Current liabilities5 1414 923(218)4 040
Non-current liabilities4 7694 407(362)4 538
Total liabilities 9 910 9 330(580) 8 578
Net assets24 70324 19650724 293
Equity24 70324 19650724 293

During 2018-19 an interim dividend was paid and a final dividend is payable in 2019-20. The total payment will be $3.438m (2017-18 total $699 000).

The Public Trustee’s net result before distributions was $4.912m in 2018-19. That was $745 000 above budget. The following items contributed to the favourable result:

  • Revenue was 6.9% ($1.994m) higher than budget. The favourable variance was attributable to investment revenue $830 000, sundry income $731 000, fees and charges revenue $287 000 and management fees $146 000.
  • Expenses were 5% ($1.249m) above budget. This higher expenditure was mainly due to long service leave from staff that have transferred from other government agencies and targeted voluntary separation packages. This was recovered from these government agencies (shown as additional sundry income). Other expenditure included the increase in Long Service Leave costs arising from accounting valuation changes that occurred across government and unbudgeted expenditure relating to the Wills reform.

Community Service Obligations

A Community Service Obligation framework was introduced on 1 July 2018. This framework is consistent with other government trading businesses.

The Community Service Obligation framework directly funds the Public Trustee’s non-commercial services. These include:

  • Managing the Affairs of the Disadvantaged (Personal Estates)
  • Managing Small Trusts
  • Regulation of Private Administrators
  • Litigation Guardianship Matters.

From 1 July 2019 the Community Service Obligation framework will be expanded to include Wills and Power of Attorney for concession holders.

This is a result of the policy decision to no longer compete with private enterprise to offer Wills and Power of Attorney services for non-concession holders.

The Community Service Obligation payment to the Public Trustee was $4.315 million in 2018-19. It increases the Public Trustee’s profit which is fully repaid to government via dividends and tax equivalent payments.

Consultants disclosure

The following is a summary of external consultants that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken, and the actual payments made for the work undertaken during the financial year.

Consultancies with a contract value below $10,000 each

ConsultanciesPurposeActual payment
All consultancies below $10,000 each – combinedVarious$ 3 300

Consultancies with a contract value above $10,000 each

ConsultanciesPurposeActual payment
KPMG Forensic Pty LtdClient Relationship Management Software Review$ 55 000
Ernst YoungInformation Technology Network Consolidation Review$ 33 000
Tasman ResourcingHuman Resource Consulting$ 28 124
SS&C Solutions Pty LtdAsset Management Software Review$ 21 544
 Total$137 668

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/organization/attorney-general-s-dept

See also the Consolidated Financial Report of the Department of Treasury and Finance for total value of consultancy contracts across the South Australian Public Sector.

Contractors disclosure

The following is a summary of external contractors that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken, and the actual payments made for work undertaken during the financial year.

Contractors with a contract value below $10,000

ContractorsPurposeActual payment
All contractors below $10,000 each – combinedVarious$115 540

Contractors with a contract value above $10,000 each

ContractorsPurposeActual payment
Deloitte Risk Advisory Pty LtdTaxation advice$14 252
Hays Specialist Recruitment Pty LtdTemp Staff Agency$14 817
Modis Staffing Pty LtdTemp Staff Agency$24 371
Fuji Xerox Business Force Pty LtdMailing Services$28 672
KPMGAccounting Advice$16 913
KPMGStrategic Plan Review$12 860
Scan Conversion Services Pty LtdScanning Services$31 121
Wavemaker Australia Pty LtdAdvertising Services for metropolitan/regional Will making visits$31 979
Excel RecruitmentTemp Staff Agency$44 640
Randstad Pty LtdTemp Staff Agency$78 488
Careerlink People SolutionsTemp Staff Agency$111 680
Pricewaterhouse CoopersInternal Audit and Risk Management Services$260 278
 Total$670 153

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/organization/attorney-general-s-dept

The details of South Australian Government-awarded contracts for goods, services, and works are displayed on the SA Tenders and Contracts website. View the agency list of contracts.

The website also provides details of across government contracts.

Other information

Under the Public Corporations Act 1993, a Charter must be prepared for a Public Corporation and agreed between the Attorney-General and the Treasurer.

The Charter describes the reporting and accountability requirements and outlines objectives for invested customer funds, financial and other performance targets. It also sets out the responsibilities and the expectations of both the Public Trustee and the Government. The Charter is reviewed annually.

Customer Investments

All investment options finished with positive returns, despite a volatile start to the financial year. Growth oriented strategies with a higher weighting to shares, property and infrastructure were the best performers.

In terms of market performance the Public Trustee’s more conservative investment style with a focus on value and quality led to some underperformance from benchmark over the last 12 months, due to a rally in high growth/speculative stocks within the market. The Public Trustee’s investment returns ranged from 1.92% for cash to 4.54% for growth, net of fees.

The Public Trustee’s investment strategies have outperformed their CPI targets over each of the suggested time horizons, as illustrated below:

Investment Performance versus CPI Objectives as at 30 June 2019

Investment StrategyCPI ObjectiveInvestment HorizonTarget Return % paActual Return % paOver (+)/Under(-)Outperformance % pa
Capital StableCPI + 1.5% pa3 Years3.37%3.97%+0.60%
BalancedCPI + 3% pa5 Years4.63%5.92%+1.29%
GrowthCPI + 3.5% pa7 Years5.43%9.54%+4.11%
EquitiesCPI + 4% pa10 Years6.14%10.58%+4.44%

During the financial year, the Public Trustee allocated additional funds towards unlisted property and appointed a new specialist global fixed interest manager. These new investments are expected to generate a reasonable level of income, at a time where cash rates are at record lows.

2018–19 Investment Strategies’ Performance

 Last

12 Months

Last

3 Years

(Annualised)
Last

5 Years

(Annualised)
Last

7 Years

(Annualised)
Last

10 Years

(Annualised)
Cash1.92%1.85%2.09%2.50%3.23%
Benchmark0.96%0.86%1.08%1.34%1.99%
Variance0.96%0.99%1.01%1.16%1.24%
Capital Stable3.10%3.97%4.04%5.12%5.44%
Benchmark5.55%4.19%4.07%4.89%5.29%
Variance-2.45%-0.22%-0.03%0.23%0.15%
Balanced4.24%6.12%5.92%7.70%7.52%
Benchmark8.22%6.79%6.15%7.64%7.61%
Variance-3.98%-0.67%-0.23%0.06%-0.09%
Growth4.54%7.83%7.14%9.54%8.83%
Benchmark8.64%8.50%7.16%9.36%8.69%
Variance-4.10%-0.67%-0.02%0.18%0.14%
Equities4.45%11.22%9.09%12.44%10.58%
Benchmark9.24%11.97%8.96%12.30%10.10%
Variance-4.79%-0.75%0.13%0.14%0.48%

The cash objective is to provide customers a very low risk strategy designed to achieve a return comparable to the 90 day bank bill rate and provide the advantage of having funds available at 24 hour call for amounts of up to $1m.

Common FundAllocation (%) 2018-19Allocation (%) 2017-18
 NeutralPeriod End$mNeutralPeriod End$m
Australian Shares10.0%9.9%$13.2510.0%10.5%$13.13
Overseas Shares8.0%7.9%$10.528.0%8.1%$10.19
Property10.0%10.5%$14.0010.0%10.0%$12.52
Long Term Fixed Interest15.0%14.9%$19.8715.0%14.8%$18.53
Short Term Fixed Interest26.5%26.6%$35.4426.5%26.5%$33.27
Overseas Fixed Interest12.5%12.1%$16.1612.5%12.0%$15.05
Cash18.0%18.1%$24.1118.0%18.1%$22.70
TOTAL100.0%100.0%$133.35100.0%100.0%$125.39

Common FundAllocation (%) 2018-19Allocation (%) 2017-18
 NeutralPeriod End$mNeutralPeriod End$m
Australian Shares19.0%18.8%$48.5819.0%19.8%$46.81
Overseas Shares16.0%15.8%$40.6516.0%16.2%$38.28
Property20.0%21.0%$54.0320.0%19.9%$47.00
Long Term Fixed Interest22.0%21.8%$56.1622.0%21.6%$50.89
Short Term Fixed Interest 7.0% 7.0%$18.05 7.0% 7.0%$16.47
Overseas Fixed Interest12.0%11.6%$29.9312.0%11.5%$27.09
Cash 4.0% 4.0%$10.344.0%4.0%$9.46
TOTAL100.0%100.0%$257.74100.0%100.0%$236.00

Common FundAllocation (%) 2018-19Allocation (%) 2017-18
 NeutralPeriod End$mNeutralPeriod End$m
Australian Shares29.0%28.8%$64.7929.0%30.0%$65.54
Overseas Shares24.0%23.6%$53.2824.0%24.1%$52.68
Property20.0%20.9%$47.1920.0%19.7%$43.10
Long Term Fixed Interest12.5%12.4%$27.8612.5%12.1%$26.51
Short Term Fixed Interest 4.5% 4.5%$10.14 4.5% 4.4%$9.71
Overseas Fixed Interest 6.0% 5.8%$13.06 6.0% 5.7%$12.41
Cash 4.0% 4.0%$9.03 4.0% 4.0%$8.67
TOTAL100.0%100.0%$225.35100.0%100.0%$218.62

Common FundAllocation (%) 2018-19Allocation (%) 2017-18
 NeutralPeriod End$mNeutralPeriod End$m
Australian Shares55.0%55.2%$46.8655.0%55.7%$45.52
Overseas Shares45.0%44.8%$38.0745.0%44.3%$36.16
TOTAL100.0%100.0%$84.93100.0%100.0%$81.68