As well, advice and support were provided to the Minister for Finance and Admin-istration in his role as a major shareholder of Government Business Enterprises. For the first time, the Government has based its Budget on outcomes and outputs, and accrual accounting principles. The new accrual framework also places outcomes and outputs or results and deliverables at the centre of how agencies plan, budget, manage and report. Under the accrual framework, agencies are resourced for the price of their outputs. The agency output price includes full costs, such as depreciation and employee leave entitlements, and also reflects its cost to Government of capital.
Agencies are now responsible for developing and maintaining their own estimates.
However, the responsibility for quality assurance in relation to the accuracy of the estimates and advising Government on an agency's performance against its outcomes will be retained by DOFA's Budget Group. The new framework enables the Government to link the full cost of its outputs to planned outcomes. It also exposes the Government to a greater degree of public scrutiny and accountability. Another major benefit of the new framework is that it improves the information base underpinning all public sector activity. The accrual framework provides better incentives for public sector managers to increase efficiency, and will more precisely define planned community benefits.