Archive for October, 2009
Group boasts of physical, mental abuse
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Satanist’s online world lures teen girls
Thursday, October 29th, 2009ATO Change Program budget now $879m
Thursday, October 29th, 2009The budget for the Change Program has again been bumped up as the Australian Taxation Office says it needs $105 million to finish the project over the next two years on top of the $749 million it has already spent.
ATO CIO Bill Gibson
(Credit: ATO)
The budget started out at $445 million over six years in 2004, according to a report released today by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on the program, which aimed to replace the ATO's legacy taxation systems and combine them into a common platform. The program was scheduled to be completed in June 2008. However, there were delays to the program and scope increases following legislative changes which saw the budget increased to $774 million.
The expansion of the business case was responsible for $234 million of the $304 million budget growth, the report said, which left the tax office to absorb the remainder.
Yet there was more budget slippage on the horizon. In June this year the tax office had spent $749 million on the project, and considered it would likely need to spend another $105 million to finish the project, including the extra $25 million the government had given it to complete the out-of-scope first home buyers account. This upped the forecast total project cost to $879 million, which would see the tax office absorb additional expenditure of $247 million for the life of the program.
The audit office said that the tax office's schedule had been "ambitious" and in hindsight "optimistic".
It pointed out that the project wasn't over yet, and there could be more budget overruns. "The Change Program is now entering the most difficult and complex phase of the project and there are signs of increasing challenges in achieving a satisfactory outcome," it said. "There is significant risk that the deadlines for the completion of further releases may be put under pressure or that functionality in the original scope of the Change Program will be reduced so as to meet the current budget and timetable expectations," it said.
ANAO recommended that the tax office give high level reports to the Change Program steering committee detailing costs and benefits to fight this.
Another problem the audit office saw was that the relationship between Accenture and the Tax Office had become very tricky. "In practice, features of the contract (joint conduct of work and the liability of risk) blur the roles of the Tax office and Accenture. Complex negotiations between the two parties therefore became an essential feature of day-to-day contract administration," the auditors said. According to the auditors, the tax office needed to amend its contract.
The auditors also believed that the Australian Taxation Office had not adequately tested the fringe benefits tax release and had inadequately involved end users in the process.
It recommended that the tax office test and validate releases against standards and requirements in conjunction with the business, as the fringe benefit tax experience had revealed the "need for end-to-end testing, business pilot with actual production data and full involvement of tax office business lines".
In general, ANAO believed that the tax office should make better use of its assurance framework, including internal audit and its external assessor Capgemini. It also wanted the management framework adjusted to better measure the performance of the systems.
The taxation office accepted the recommendations, while also pointing out the increase in scale of the program and the benefits of the releases which had been completed.
The program is now expected to be completed by next year. The income tax component is due to be completed in January 2010, while the Business Activity Statements and excise will be done by December 2010.
Share: Google |
Facebook |
del.icio.us |
Digg |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
StumbleUpon
Related Articles
Change Program budget now $879m
Thursday, October 29th, 2009The budget for the Change Program has again been bumped up as the Australian Taxation Office says it needs $105 million to finish the project over the next two years on top of the $749 million it has already spent.
ATO CIO Bill Gibson
(Credit: ATO)
The budget started out at $445 million over six years in 2004, according to a report released today by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on the program, which aimed to replace the ATO's legacy taxation systems and combine them into a common platform. The program was scheduled to be completed in June 2008. However, there were delays to the program and scope increases following legislative changes which saw the budget increased to $774 million.
The expansion of the business case was responsible for $234 million of the $304 million budget growth, the report said, which left the tax office to absorb the remainder.
Yet there was more budget slippage on the horizon. In June this year the tax office had spent $749 million on the project, and considered it would likely need to spend another $105 million to finish the project, including the extra $25 million the government had given it to complete the out-of-scope first home buyers account. This upped the forecast total project cost to $879 million, which would see the tax office absorb additional expenditure of $247 million for the life of the program.
The audit office said that the tax office's schedule had been "ambitious" and in hindsight "optimistic".
It pointed out that the project wasn't over yet, and there could be more budget overruns. "The Change Program is now entering the most difficult and complex phase of the project and there are signs of increasing challenges in achieving a satisfactory outcome," it said. "There is significant risk that the deadlines for the completion of further releases may be put under pressure or that functionality in the original scope of the Change Program will be reduced so as to meet the current budget and timetable expectations," it said.
ANAO recommended that the tax office give high level reports to the Change Program steering committee detailing costs and benefits to fight this.
Another problem the audit office saw was that the relationship between Accenture and the Tax Office had become very tricky. "In practice, features of the contract (joint conduct of work and the liability of risk) blur the roles of the Tax office and Accenture. Complex negotiations between the two parties therefore became an essential feature of day-to-day contract administration," the auditors said. According to the auditors, the tax office needed to amend its contract.
The auditors also believed that the Australian Taxation Office had not adequately tested the fringe benefits tax release and had inadequately involved end users in the process.
It recommended that the tax office test and validate releases against standards and requirements in conjunction with the business, as the fringe benefit tax experience had revealed the "need for end-to-end testing, business pilot with actual production data and full involvement of tax office business lines".
In general, ANAO believed that the tax office should make better use of its assurance framework, including internal audit and its external assessor Capgemini. It also wanted the management framework adjusted to better measure the performance of the systems.
The taxation office accepted the recommendations, while also pointing out the increase in scale of the program and the benefits of the releases which had been completed.
The program is now expected to be completed by next year. The income tax component is due to be completed in January 2010, while the Business Activity Statements and excise will be done by December 2010.
Share: Google |
Facebook |
del.icio.us |
Digg |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
StumbleUpon
Related Articles
ANZ boosts offshore jobs, IT spend
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Australia and New Zealand Banking Group chief executive Mike Smith said today he'd look to harbour more of its operations offshore in the future as he also discussed details of the bank's beefed up technology spend.
Mike Smith
(Credit: ANZ)
Smith guessed today at the bank's annual results briefing for the year to 30 September 2009 that the bank had 4000 employees already in Bangalore, India — 500 more than the latest released figure. Despite India's recent wage hikes, he said it was still cheaper to source employees than Australia.
The bank has been slowly increasing the number of its technology workers in Bangalore over the last years. It announced in March that the number was increasing from 3000 to 3500 as it cut staff at its Melbourne headquarters. However, it also recognised the difficulties it was causing staff who were made redundant during economically difficult times and introduced a $10 million package to help those workers who had lost their jobs. Yet the jobs migration isn't over, Smith said today.
"We have migrated a number of operational areas to [Bangalore]," he said. "From Australia, from NZ and indeed from the Asia Pacific, and as we build up the Asia Pacific businesses we'll be looking, of course, to put more of the business there."
He said that he wanted to create centres of excellence around the world and that he didn't care where they were. "I think what is important is that we actually create a proper strategy around our back office operational centres and indeed our IT development shops which at the moment are still a bit fragmented."
As it forms its strategy for centres of excellence, the bank has also been tipping money into the technology pot. It has increased its technology spend by $157 million, or 26 per cent. This amount has gone to buying software for $50 million, higher amortisation of $31 million, an increase in the software it writes off to $24 million, a $15 million increase on the money spent on computer contractors, an $11 million jump in the cost of rentals and repairs, an $8 million spike in data communications and a $23 million hike in "other computer costs", which includes super regionally network costs.
ANZ has also spent $218 million on process engineering within Operations Technology and Shared Services, writing off ATMs in its network upgrade and transforming its NZ business. According to its annual report, $100 million in benefits had flowed through to the bank from these transformations.
"I think that that will cover a multitude of areas," Smith explained at a briefing after his results presentation.
One such was an upgrade to the bank's PeopleSoft general ledger and HR system as well as its Hyperion financials. "We're actually spending quite a bit of money on upgrading and in fact stabilising some of those systems which I think have probably lacked a bit of investment for the last few years," Smith said.
"There's quite a bit of work being done on the enterprise platforms for HR and finance and risk to create a more robust platform so that the group can grow," CFO Peter Marriott added. "Something that is scalable and can be rolled out to any new acquisitions very easily."
Smith said more of the technology funds were going to rolling out Infosys' Finacle in the Asia Pacific region. Finacle went live in Laos in early June 2008 and then in Indonesia in November 2008. China is next on the cards, then Singapore.
Institutional Banking's technology had also been revamped, Smith said. "We've spent a fair amount of money on fixing some of the institutional banking systems which did require a fair amount of remedial work."
Additionally, the bank had spent money upgrading its internet platform, Smith said, and integrating systems technology in New Zealand.
Share: Google |
Facebook |
del.icio.us |
Digg |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
StumbleUpon
Related Articles
War game slammed over terrorist scene
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Google gets groove on with music search
Thursday, October 29th, 2009deal with MySpace and others.
NEHTA cuts contractor spend
Thursday, October 29th, 2009The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has dropped the amount it is shelling out for contractors while stepping up its in-house employee spend, according to its annual report released yesterday.
The authority, charged with steering Australia towards electronic health records, spent just over $9 million on contractors for the year to 30 June 2009 compared to over $11 million last year. Meanwhile, it increased the amount it spent on in-house wages to around $21 million from $16 million.
This brought the percentage of employee spend due to contractors down to 30 per cent from around 41 per cent in the previous year.
"The majority of fixed-term employment contracts expired on 30 June 2009. After NEHTA received funding to continue the work program until June 2012, an assessment process was undertaken to determine the resources needed for each program area and a new contractual process commenced," the authority's annual report said.
The number of full-time employees which NEHTA employed at 30 June was 190, up from 169 the previous year. According to its site, the authority is currently looking for people to fill positions ranging from software development, testing and conformance, enterprise architects and analysts.
Although the authority saved on contractors, it spent big on consultants. It's splashed out just over $26 million on the advisory services, up from just over $2 million the year before.
This accounted for a large proportion of the authority's allocated $64.7 million income for the year. The authority overspent by just over $2.2 million.
NEHTA has been tackling a wide swathe of issues on which it might wish to consult, including privacy implications of health identifiers, addressing concerns of stakeholders with the standards it has developed and the implementation of its newly developed strategy.
Share: Google |
Facebook |
del.icio.us |
Digg |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
StumbleUpon
Related Articles
Conroy wins battle for Telco Bill debate
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy has won the support of the Greens, independent Nick Xenophon and Family First's Steven Fielding to have the government's telecommunications reform legislation debated before the end of the year.
All cross-bench senators today threw their support behind Conroy's wish to have the Bill — Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2009 — debated before the end of the year.
As the Senate's sitting year draws to a close, Conroy has desperately scrambled to have the Bill, which would see Telstra's split, debated in the Senate. The Bill had been caught in a holding pattern as senators decided whether Conroy's release of documents earlier this week satisfied the Opposition's 13 May motion to defer debate on any Bills related to the National Broadband Network (NBN) until those documents were released.
"In effect, this means that the Senate will not be able to debate this Bill on telecommunications regulatory reform. I think that this interpretation of the Senate order is broader than even perhaps Senator Minchin imagined," said Conroy yesterday.
The documents contained detailed information about the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission's valuation of Telstra's network, and are believed to contain an explanation from the NBN Expert Panel as to why the government abandoned the first $4.7 billion NBN proposal. Citing "commercial-in-confidence", Conroy however only released 16 pages of the Expert Panel's 893-page report, which Minchin today said did not satisfy the May order.
Conroy last night had asked for the legislation to be made exempt from the 13 May order on the basis that it related to telecommunications reform, and not the NBN. "These reforms are required, independent and irrespective of the NBN," said Conroy.
"I am asking the Senate to support this motion to ensure that important reforms to improve competition and strengthen consumer safeguards can be considered by the Senate independently and separately of any Bills which specifically relate to the roll-out and regulatory design for the NBN."
Conroy clarified that the government would not push for a vote on the matter until 16 November, the last week of the Senate's sitting year because he would be in Egypt at a UN conference on Internet Governance.
Minchin today said he was disappointed with the cross-benchers' decision, but accepted the weight of numbers. Due to Conroy's handling of "commercial in confidence", however, the Senate agreed to conduct an inquiry into its use. Both Ludlam and Xenophon objected to Conroy's handling of the documents relating to the first NBN proposal.
Share: Google |
Facebook |
del.icio.us |
Digg |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
StumbleUpon
Related Articles