Accountability

Ensuring there is clarity of decision-making within the organisation, with processes in place to ensure that the right people have the right authority to make effective and efficient decisions with appropriate consequences for failure to follow those processes.

Delegation of Authority

Our Delegation of Authority Manual outlines administrative responsibilities for officers and their authority to carry out day-to-day tasks. The Delegation of Authority is in accordance with the Main Roads Act 1930, as amended and the principle of public administration set out in Section 7(d) of the Public Sector Management Act 1994. Employees are aware that delegation limits are specified in the Delegation of Authority Manual and that they must not be exceeded.

Corporate Executive

Corporate Executive is our peak decision making body. Its objective is to “set clear strategic direction to deliver government priorities, meet our aspirational purpose and achieve agreed performance goals”. It achieves this by:

• assisting in discharging the Managing Director’s responsibilities and to operate as an advisory body to the Managing Director
• achieving the best outcomes from key decisions, developing executive commitment to key organisational priorities and modelling our values, guiding principles and behaviours to the organisation
• setting strategy, oversight, decision-making and leadership and managing organisational performance to ensure capability to deliver its services
• providing a forum to raise corporate related issues and seeking feedback and input from peers
• being proactive, long term orientated and outcomes focused.

During the year Corporate Executive conducted a comprehensive review of its governance structure and decided to absorb the role and decision making of some Standing Committees within its monthly meetings, as a result the Corporate Development Committee and the Budget Committee were disbanded. For information on the Corporate Safety Health and Wellbeing Committee please refer to the Safety Health and wellbeing chapter, details on the Management Review and Audit Committee are in the section on Transparency.

Ministerial Directives

There were no directives issued by the Minister for Transport under Section 19B of the Main Roads Act 1930, as amended during the year.

Performance Agreements

Performance agreements ensure clear goals are set and members of Corporate Executive are held accountable for delivering these objectives.

The Managing Director has a performance agreement with the Commissioner while other members of Corporate Executive have Individual Performance Agreements with the Managing Director.

Corporate Business Plan 2016-20

Our Corporate Business Plan specifically identifies priorities, actions, targets and measures that must be considered as part of the development of Directorate and Branch Business Plans. Our integrated approach to planning is based on input from partners, stakeholders, customers and employees. The input is coordinated through our Strategic Plan, the Corporate Business Plan, Directorate and Branch Business Plans and ultimately all employees through Individual Performance Agreements, as shown in the chart. Our Corporate Business Plan aligns with our strategic direction and government goals and objectives. It is the basis for all Directorate and Branch Business Plans and ensures planning, delivery, maintenance and operational activities are aligned with our corporate direction.

We review our progress monthly, quarterly, biannually and annually. Reporting varies from online scorecards and dashboard style information through to staff communiques from Corporate Executive.

Risk Management

Our Risk Management Policy states that we “manage all risks so that our business outcomes are achieved and our reputation is protected”. Our systematic approach to enterprise-wide risk management centralises various corporate risk management procedures and processes from across the organisation. All employees have a responsibility to mitigate risk by managing and identifying risks that are a part of the work we undertake. We align our process to the Australian Standard AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 – Risk Management. In addition, major capital works projects incorporate risk management processes to identify and manage project and operational risks where necessary.

Our Corporate Risk Management Reporting

We hold workshops across the organisation to identify key operational and strategic risks facing individual directorates and business units, as well as Main Roads as a whole. These workshops focus on the strategic and longer term impacts to our business. Mitigating actions to address these risks are incorporated within Directorate and Branch Business Plans and form part of the quarterly reporting and evaluation regime to Corporate Executive and across the organisation.

During the year we participated in a portfolio-wide review of the corporate risk reference tables with the Public Transport Authority and Department of Transport. For consistency and tracking, we agreed on a single approach to high-level risk assessment and risk prioritisation across the three agencies. In addition, we contributed to a combined portfolio procurement of a single risk management system, led by the Department of Transport, to replace existing or outdated risk management systems across the three Transport portfolio agencies. This new approach will be rolled out during the next 12 months.

Financial Targets: Actuals Compared to Budget

The following table provides a comparison of the financial targets and outcomes against criteria included in the Resource Agreement between the Commissioner of Main Roads, Minister of Transport and the Treasurer.

	2015-16 Target(1) $000	2015-16 Actual $000	Variation(2) $000
Total cost of services (expense limit)	1,157,876	1,113,449	(44,427)
Net cost of services	420,121	155,516	(264,605)(a)
Total equity	47,580,861	47,385,406	(195,455)(b)
Approved salary expense level	115,806	114,054	(1,752)
Agreed borrowing limit	5,766	-	(5,766)(c)

⁽¹⁾ As specified in the 2015-16 Budgets Statements.

⁽²⁾ Further explanations are contained in Note 42 ‘Explanatory statements’ to the financial statements.

^(a)The variation in Net Cost of Services is mainly due to an increase in Commonwealth grants and contributions from additional infrastructure funding received to make up for the State’s GST revenue shortfall.

^(b) The variation in Total Equity mainly relates to revaluation of Infrastructure Assets being less than anticipated.

^(c)The variation in Agreed borrowing limit is due to early repayment of the outstanding loan borrowings from Western Australian Treasury Corporation.

	2015-16 Agreed Limit $000	2015-16 Target(1)/ Actual(2) $000	Variation(3) $000
Agreed Working Cash Limit (at Budget)	41,265	41,265	n/a
Agreed Working Cash Limit (at Actuals)	41,265	40,231	(1,034)

⁽¹⁾ Target to reflect the agency’s anticipated working cash for the relevant financial year.

⁽²⁾ Actual to reflect the actual working cash held at the close of the financial year.

⁽³⁾ Did not exceed agreed limit during the financial year.

Reporting to the Department of Treasury

We provide monthly, quarterly and annual financial statement information to the Department of Treasury, which is subject to external audit by the Office of the Auditor General. This is an independent check on the integrity of our financial reporting. We are also required to report annually against achievement of financial targets/financial measures in the Resource Agreement between the Commissioner of Main Roads, Managing Director of Main Roads, Minister for Transport and the Treasurer.

Management Reporting

Both Financial Reports and Program Management Reports are tabled monthly and quarterly at Corporate Executive. These report on projects and progress against key performance indicators. In addition, Regions and Branches conduct monthly finance reviews, with reports presented at Directorate Management meetings. Financial Performance reports are also reviewed quarterly by the Department of Transport – Portfolio Investment Coordination Branch, as part of portfolio financial reporting to the Minister for Transport.

Accounting and Financial Management Policies

A comprehensive Financial Management Manual containing accounting and financial management policies and procedures is maintained together with Control Self-Assessment Checklists. These documents communicate accountability for procedures within various responsibility areas and enhance the level of internal control. The Manual and Checklists enable management as well as internal and external auditors to monitor compliance with established policies and procedures and, together with the Financial Management Act 2006 and the Treasurer’s Instructions, are available online to all employees.

Capital Works

All disclosures in relation to capital works are included in the Financial Statements and Notes. Our annual Strategic Asset Plan details our 10-year investment needs and drivers. The Strategic Asset Plan adheres to the Department of Treasury’s Strategic Asset Management Framework. We assess projects for funding through submission of comprehensive Business Cases to the Road Planning Investment Committee and Corporate Executive based on their economic, environmental and social impacts. Each capital project follows the national Austroads project evaluation methodology where a Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) must be conducted and calculated. This incorporates quantifiable economic data and is supplemented by simplified economic, environmental and social assessments.

The BCR records information on the benefits of a project on travel time savings, vehicle operating costs and smoother travel, safety, and maintenance. Other benefits and costs are considered via a multi-criteria analysis. Our approved priority Capital projects are then submitted to the Department of Transport’s Portfolio Investment Steering Committee for rating and assessment against all Transport Portfolio priorities, with shortlisted priorities submitted to the Minister for Transport for approval as part of the Department of Treasury’s Annual Budget Cycle. Capital works' financial progress is reported to the Corporate Executive on a monthly basis and to the Department of Transport’s Transport Portfolio Investment Co-ordination Branch on a quarterly basis.

Managing our Records

Our approved Recordkeeping Plan, approved in 2010, provides overarching guidance in line with the changing needs of our workforce and how we do business. We are currently awaiting Commission approval of our draft replacement Plan. Our best practice recordkeeping processes meet the legislative requirements of the State Records Act 2000 (WA).

We received the State Records Commission Award for Excellence in Compliance Reporting at the 2015 Lonnie Awards. Our Recordkeeping Framework assists in educating employees on our records program and provides a solid foundation for service delivery to our customers and stakeholders in a planned and informed manner. We have adopted Australian Standard AS ISO 15489 – Records Management for best practice recordkeeping, and actively use the State Records Commission standards and principles.

Future trends

TRIM is our electronic recordkeeping system, the TRIM Roadmap is a key component of a ‘less paper’ initiative. System suitability and dependability is important to the success of the business with such an initiative. The ‘less paper’ initiative is about collaboratively working in a digital world. To meet this aim, we are:

• launching the latest version of TRIM
• creating electronic forms and workflows
• working more productively using our existing technology
• reviewing our printers and how we use them
• using a digital file transfer system for large electronic files
• making Corporate Executive meetings “paperless”.

Items and documents stored to TRIM over recent financial years’ indicate that there is steady ongoing use of the recordkeeping system by staff with system audit logs indicating that over 75 per cent of employees actively use TRIM regularly. A bulk scanning and document processing application called KOFAX has been used since the closure of Shared Services to semi-automate the capture and storage of hardcopy and electronic invoices to TRIM for further processing. We are progressively extending the use KOFAX to other forms of incoming correspondence such as statements, credit notes, supplier creation forms, plans, maps, reports and general correspondence.

Hardcopy correspondence scanned and captured to TRIM through this system is disposed of in accordance with the General Disposal Authority for Source Records. The KOFAX system is now undergoing User Acceptance Testing for upgrade to the latest version, known as Total Agility 7 (TA7) to achieve further automation. Once bedded down, a business review will be conducted with a view to enabling all incoming correspondence to be scanned and processed digitally.

We undertook a range of additional initiatives to continue supporting best practice recordkeeping:

• creation of a Business Information Reference Group to develop smarter, more efficient ways of working using existing technology through a ‘less paper initiative’
• to ensure ongoing legal disposal of records a qualified experienced archivist has been employed
• to support an ongoing authorised approval process for records disposal the Main Roads Retention and Disposal Schedule RD 2014016 was submitted and gained approval from the State Records Commission
• Office of Road Safety digital and hardcopy records have been transitioned out to the new Road Safety Commission
• audit re-certification of records processes and documentation has been undertaken to support the Integrated Management System
• a Records Communication Plan supported by the Managing Director was implemented to market the value of capturing evidence of business activity and automation of work processes
• records policy changes required to achieve conformance with the new Recordkeeping Framework have been documented
• the Records Training Program has been reviewed with a focus on business processes to better meet future needs for managing information.
• a three-year work program has been renewed to improve recordkeeping across the organisation
• a quarterly meeting with our Portfolio partners has continued for information and knowledge sharing concerning records management.
• active involvement in business system design and provision of advice concerning records management, system integration requirements and system needs has been maintained.

Training Program

Cultivating and consolidating employee knowledge of best practice recordkeeping is paramount in preserving our corporate memory. To achieve this, we offer a range of training services and opportunities including:

• induction training for all new employees, contractors and consultants addressing recordkeeping responsibilities and compliance with our Recordkeeping Plan
• online recordkeeping awareness courses to support the capture of records as evidence of business activity and knowledge of system use
• full day hands-on TRIM training, also offered on a one-on-one basis including support through remote online assistance
• one hour intensive short courses
• an annual records seminar for metropolitan, regional and Transport Portfolio staff to share and discuss issues, concerns and best practices. This program was recognised as an exemplary business case in the State Records Commission 2015 Annual Report
• regular publication of updates to policies, procedures, quick reference guides, FAQs, news items, service provision and contact points on our intranet site.