We’ve recently changed our grant reporting guidelines which will affect how some grantees update us on their CBF-funded projects.
The change only affects organisations which are required to provide an Auditor’s Financial Certificate (AFC) as part of their reporting process.
What is an AFC?
An AFC certifies that all CBF grant funds received in a financial or calendar year have been, or are being, spent according to the terms of your grant agreement/s.
The AFC must be signed by an approved auditor.
Who needs to complete an AFC?
Our grant reporting guidelines require organisations receiving total CBF funding above a threshold, or have funds carried forward from previous years, to complete an AFC.
In previous years the threshold was $45K. This meant that any organisation receiving total funding of $45K or above in their financial year would need to provide us with an AFC.
This threshold, which was recently reviewed by the Board, has increased to $80K for grants received in 2021/22 and beyond. This increase ensures we provide a higher level of accountability for the majority of funds we distribute. It also simplifies reporting requirements for smaller grants.
What’s involved in completing an AFC?
If your community media organisation received grants above the threshold, we will send you an AFC template to be completed by your auditor and returned to the CBF. We send these to organisations in July (if they follow the financial year reporting) and in January (if they follow a calendar year reporting).
The CBF template lists all grants paid during the year. You organisation must arrange for an auditor to complete the certificate.
AFC templates for the 2021/22 financial year were sent out to organisations required to complete them in July this year.
Need more information about AFCs?
If you have any questions about completing an AFC, get in touch with the Grants Support Team member who is the key contact for your area or email the CBF’s Financial Manager, Niraj Shah.
Read more about what’s involved in providing an AFC.
About our grants
We run two Content and Development & Operations grant rounds each year, usually in January and July. You can check when our next grant round is open on the key dates page.
Quick Response Grants are also available outside our grant rounds for community media organisations that are experiencing emergencies.
To hear the latest updates about our grants subscribe to our enewsletter, Broadcast, and follow us on Facebook.