Financial performance at a glance

The following is a brief summary of the overall financial position of the agency. The information is unaudited. Full audited financial statements for 2020-21 are available at Appendix 1.

During 2019-20 an interim dividend was paid and a final dividend is payable in
2020-21. The total payment will be $6.926 million (2019-20 total $3.954 million).

The Public Trustee’s net result before distributions was $7.6 million in 2020-21. That was $1.980 million above budget. The following items contributed to the favourable result:

• Revenue was 3.2% ($0.990 million) above budget. The favourable variance was attributable to investment revenue $2.629 million which was partially offset by unfavourable fees and charges revenue ($1.423 million) and management fee revenue ($0.101 million).  Unfavourable fees and charges revenue was primarily due to declining Estate revenue in Probate, Intestacies and Letters of Administration products and Trusts revenue in Testamentary Trusts and Court Award products.
• Expenses were 3.9% ($0.990 million) below budget. This is mainly due to changed discount assumptions in the long service leave actuarial valuations ($0.365 million) and the assumed 1.5% salary increase delayed by the extended enterprise bargaining negotiation ($0.310 million).

The variations to budget in the Statement of Financial Position are primarily related to the lower than budgeted short term cash investments.

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

Consultancies with a contract value above $10,000 each

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

Contractors with a contract value above $10,000 each

Temporary staff usage increased in 2020-21 to maintain business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and to process receipts and payments arising from the Commonwealth governments economic support payments to customers.

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

The Public Trustee’s Balanced, Growth and Equities investment strategies outperformed their target returns. The Capital Stable investment strategy slightly underperformed its target return due to low interest rates.

Investment Performance versus CPI Objectives as at 30 June 2021

2020–21 Standard Investment Strategies’ Performance