Fees Model Review

In the public sector fees may be charged for the provision of goods or services. A fee aims to recover the costs of service provision from users of the service. It is important that fees are not set at levels higher than cost because this could be deemed to be an unlegislated tax and unlawful. Fees must also comply with Treasury and OAG guidelines. The Fees Model Review will provide a documented review of your fees model to demonstrate that fees and the memorandum account are calculated correctly and comply with legislation and guidance.

What do you receive?

• A review of your fees model to ensure that the appropriate costs are being included and that it is arithmetically correct
• Reconciliation of the memorandum account
• Identification of any issues and recommended adjustments
• Documentation to demonstrate to Treasury and other stakeholders that fees and the memorandum account are calculated correctly and comply with legislation and guidance.

Why would you be interested?

• Charging fees for services on a full cost-recovery basis and operating a memorandum account has a number of risks:
  • fees may be significantly higher than the cost of providing services and may be investigated by the Regulation Review Committee or challenged in the courts
  • cost allocations may not reflect the real cost of providing services and charges may be set incorrectly
  • cross-subsidisation may occur and may be unlawful
  • large memorandum account balances may cause adverse impacts on an agency.

• The Fees Model Review will enable you to manage these risks and to ensure that you are meeting Treasury and OAG guidelines.

Why are we the best people to provide this service?

• We are public sector specialists with extensive sector knowledge and experience. Over the years we have reviewed fees models for many agencies across the public sector. 
• We have published a range of public sector finance guides, including Understanding memorandum accounts and Managing a fall in fees or levies. These guides provide a sound basis for us to identify and assess alternate funding options.