Department of Finance (1976–97)

Department of Finance

Department overview
Formed	7 December 1976[1]
Preceding Department	Department of the Treasury
Dissolved	9 October 1997[1]
Superseding agency	Department of Finance and Administration
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters	Canberra
Employees	587 (at 30 June 1997)[2]
Department executives	William Cole, Secretary (1976‑78) Ian Castles, Secretary (1978‑86) Michael Keating, Secretary (1986‑91) Steve Sedgwick, Secretary (1992‑96) Peter Boxall, Secretary (1997)

The Department of Finance (also called DoF) was an Australian government department with the mission to support and promote excellence in Commonwealth financial management and budgeting, and in program performance throughout the public sector. The department existed between December 1976 and October 1997.

History

The department was split from the Department of the Treasury in 1976 with the aim to separate financial oversight functions from economic policy functions generally, emulating changes Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had introduced to his bureaucracy.^[3]

Outcomes and scope

The Department's mission was to support and promote excellence in Commonwealth financial management and budgeting, and in program performance throughout the public sector.^[4]

Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements, in the department's annual reports and on the department's website.

At its creation, the Department dealt with:^[1]

• Examination, review and evaluation of governmental expenditure proposals and programs.
• Collection and analysis of forward estimates of expenditure; and
• Administration of the Public Account.

Structure

The Department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials responsible to the Minister for Finance.^[1]

Notes

1. CA 2140: Department of Finance [I], Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 22 December 2013
2. Department of Finance 1997, p. 64.
3. Ergas, Henry (6 September 2013). "What ails Treasury cannot be fixed with a night of the long knives". The Australian (News Corp Australia).
4. Department of Finance (1996), Our Vision and Mission, Department of Finance, archived from the original on 13 November 1997

References and further reading

• Department of Finance (October 1997), Department of Finance Annual Report 1996-97 (PDF), Department of Finance, archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 1997