Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Fundraising Act 1998 - SECT 32

Director may require accounts to be audited

32. Director may require accounts to be audited



(1) The Director may direct a person who is conducting, or has conducted, a
fundraising appeal to submit to the Director, within the time specified by the
Director, an auditor's report on the accounts and records kept in relation to
the appeal.

(2) A person must comply with such a direction.

Penalty: 50 penalty units.

(3) The report must be prepared by-

   (a)  a registered company auditor within the meaning of the Corporations
        Act; or



   (b)  a person approved by the Director in writing for the purposes of this
        section.



(4) The report must contain the auditor's opinion on-

   (a)  whether the money received as a result of the appeal has been properly
        accounted for and applied; and

   (b)  whether the records and accounts in respect of the appeal have been
        properly kept in accordance with this Act; and

   (c)  whether the accounts show a true and fair view of the income and
        expenditure relating to the appeal.

(5) The Director-

   (a)  may only issue a direction under subsection (1) within 3 years of the
        end of the appeal; and

   (b)  must allow the person who is given the direction a reasonable amount
        of time to comply with the direction; and

   (c)  is not liable for any costs in relation to the audit.

(6) If-

   (a)  the report of an auditor under this section states that a person may
        have committed an offence; and

   (b)  that person is prosecuted for the offence and a court finds the person
        guilty of, or convicts the person of, the offence-

the court may, on the application of the person who paid for the auditor's
report, order the offender to pay to the applicant the cost of the report.

(7) Sections 86(2), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7) and 87 of the
Sentencing Act 1991 apply to subsection (6) as if a reference in those
sections to an order made under section 86(1) of that Act was a reference to
an order made under subsection (6).

(8) A receipt for the payment of the costs of an auditor's report that
purports to be signed by, or on behalf, of the person responsible for the
audit is evidence of the cost of the report.

Division 6-Public inspection of accounts and records