If a service received funding within the period captured by the financial accountability, an email notification will be sent to the primary contact of each service provider from ECCMS. To review or update the contact details for your provider, please log in to ECCMS and select the Main Details tab under the Service Provider menu item. Providers are responsible for maintaining and updating their service's contact details within ECCMS.

Completing financial accountability statements is a requirement under the NSW Department of Education’s Grant Programs Terms and Conditions. Providers are required to accept and agree to the Terms and Conditions each year to receive funding.

Financial accountability statements released on Wednesday 22 May 2024 must be completed by Friday 05 July 2024.

Yes, all financial accountability statements must be submitted via ECCMS.

1. Financial accountability statements can be accessed from the To Do list tab or in the ECCMS left-hand menu by clicking Funding Specification. Capital Works Financial accountabilities can be accessed directly from the bottom of the ECCMS left-hand menu.
2. Locate and click the Funding Specification that corresponds with the funding you have received.
3. Click the Accountability tab.
4. Locate the correct Financial Year, and then click the Financial hyperlink, which opens the financial accountability statement to be completed.

More information on how to complete your financial accountability statement can be found here in the Financial Accountability Return Guide.

To access ECCMS, you will need a myGovID and be linked to the provider in RAM. Step-by-step instructions on how to set this up are available on the ECCMS webpage.

Note: Troubleshooting RAM is provided by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Information about accessing and using ECCMS is available on the ECCMS webpage.

For enquiries about ECCMS login, please contact 1800 619 113 or email ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.

More detailed information on using ECCMS can be found in the ECCMS Service Provider Guide (PDF 7.1 MB).

If you require further details on how to complete your financial accountability reporting requirements online via the Early Childhood Contract Management System, please see pages 74 to 87 of the ECCMS Service Provider Guide.

If a service received funding within the period captured by the financial accountability statement, you will receive an automatic email to the main contact email address in ECCMS. Which program funding the email relates to will be noted in the subject heading of the email.

Services should log into ECCMS and navigate to the ‘To Do’ list in the left-hand menu. A list of all outstanding financial accountabilities will be listed.

Start Strong Capital Works (and the 2022 Start Strong Free Preschool) financial accountability statements can be accessed directly from the bottom of the left side menu in ECCMS.

Note: A financial accountability statement will show ‘draft’ if it has not yet been submitted.

Click on the underlined Financial hyperlink to navigate to complete the financial accountability statement. When you have finished completing the information, scroll to the bottom of the financial accountability statement and select ‘Submit’.

If ECCMS displays an error message after you click ‘submit’, check the financial accountability statement to ensure all information has been entered into the required cells. It is not correct to enter 1c or $1 into cells to enable ECCMS to accept the financial accountability statement as ‘submitted’. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for further information on ECCMS error messages.

Once the financial accountability statement has been submitted, the accountability will disappear from the To Do list. Navigate to the Funding Specification and click on the ‘Accountability’ tab. The financial accountability will now show ‘Submitted’.

No, service providers cannot transfer grant funding between services from different grant program, unless specifically permitted in the program guidelines e.g. Start Strong for Community Preschools Fee Relief funds to Start Strong for Community Preschools Program payment.

Unexpended Fee Relief Funds (reserved or quarantined) are funds that were not allocated to an enrolment e.g. the service had fewer children enrolled than funding was provided for, or the service had a number of enrolled children where families have claimed fee relief elsewhere. Services are required to retain these fee relief funds until a new eligible enrolment claims fee relief at the service. The amount in this section is manually entered by the service.

In reference to the Start Strong 2023 implementation support project delivered by Community Connection Solutions Australia (CCSA), these funds should be recorded in a liability account until they are used towards a new eligible enrolment.

Note: Only enter the unexpended (reserved or quarantined) fee relief amount, where fee relief funds were not allocated to an enrolment. This amount is not the unspent funds from Fee Relief payments after applying the Fee Relief as a weekly deduction to reduce session or gap fees, additional charges, or operating expenses, and should not be included in the ‘Funding Used to Reduce Fees/Expenditure’ section below. This unexpended (reserved or quarantined) fee relief amount must be shown separately as noted above.

See the examples below.

Our service received funds for 50 children under Start Strong for Long Day Care (SSL) program fee relief funding. The total enrolments claiming fee relief at our service was 60 children.

How do I show this on the financial accountability statement?

Calculate the difference between the amount paid by the department, and the amount the service passed on to families for children enrolled at the service where families have elected to claim fee relief. This figure should be displayed as a negative in the ‘Unexpended Fee Relief Funds’ section. This amount will be considered in the next Fee Relief Payment adjustment from the department.

When will our service be reimbursed by the department for the additional enrolments claiming fee relief at our service?

Services may be eligible for a Fee Relief Adjustment Payment where there was a fee relief related deficit accrued because of providing fee relief to more enrolments than the service was initially funded for in 2023. (Refer to Fee Relief Funding Adjustments and Fee relief funding adjustments flow chart for services (PDF) in 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care Program Guidelines).

Where required, prior to the adjustment, Program Payment funds may also be used as an interim measure to provide fee relief to the families of eligible children.

The department will use data from the January to June 2023 data submission (submitted Jul-Aug 2023) and July to December 2023 (submitted from Mar 2024) periods to calculate any adjustment.

The 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care Fee Relief data submission for the period 1 July to 31 December 2023 was open in March 2024.

Note: Initial Fee Relief Payment adjustments were paid to services in September 2023.

The service will need to clearly show the breakdown of how this funding was used to reduce session or gap fees, additional charges, or operating expenses by entering a breakdown in the 'Funding Used to Reduce Fees/Expenditure’ section below.

Can I use any surplus from Fee Relief Payment for operational expenses after I have applied the funding to level 1 'as a weekly reduction to a family’s gap fees across the total service operating weeks for the calendar year’?

No, services must first apply the funding in the order noted in Section 4.1.2 Fee Relief Payment Spending Rules i.e. if there is any surplus after applying the funding to level 1 ‘as a weekly reduction to a family’s gap fees across the total service operating weeks for the calendar year for eligible children accessing fee relief at the service’, you then apply this surplus to level 2 ‘to cover any additional charges imposed on the eligible children, such as levies.

If there is any surplus after applying against level 2, then the approved provider may plan for and then use any remaining funds from Term 4 for operational expenses in line with the 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care Program Payment Spending rules.

For more information, see the 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care FAQs.

Reserved Fee Relief Funds (quarantined funds) are funds that were not allocated to an enrolment e.g. the service had fewer children enrolled than funding was provided for, or the service had a number of enrolled children where families have claimed fee relief elsewhere. Services are required to reserve these fee relief funds until a new eligible enrolment claims fee relief at the service. The amount in this section is manually entered by the service.

In reference to the Start Strong 2023 implementation support project delivered by Community Connection Solutions Australia (CCSA), these funds should be recorded in a liability account until they are used towards a new eligible enrolment.

Note: Only enter the reserved (quarantined) fee relief amount, where fee relief funds were not allocated to an enrolment.

See the examples below.

Our service received funds for 50 children under Start Strong for Community Preschools fee relief funding. The total enrolments claiming fee relief at our service was 60 children.

How do I show this on the financial accountability statement?

Calculate the difference between the amount paid by the Department, and the amount the service passed on to families. This figure should be displayed as a negative in the ‘Reserved Fee Relief Funds’ section. This amount will be considered in the next Fee Relief Payment adjustment from the department.

How do we cover the cost of the additional families claiming fee relief at our service?
Services should cover the cost of additional families claiming fee relief from their retained profits. The preschool funding team is available to provide support, advice, or answer any questions relating to the Start Strong Program.

All services can access support by contacting the funding team on 1800 619 113 or ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.

When will our service be reimbursed by the department for the additional enrolments claiming fee relief at our service?

Services may be eligible for additional funding in 2024 to address a fee relief related deficit accrued because of providing fee relief to more enrolments than the service was initially funded for in 2023.

No, only record amounts where Fee Relief Payment has been used to cover costs. Services should only record amounts where fee relief funds were actually used to cover the costs of what families would have normally been required to pay.

If families actually paid additional fees such as enrolment/administration, resources, excursions etc, do not record that amount in Part 1 Fee Relief Payment.

Actual fees paid by families are recorded in the INCOME section in Part 2 Program Payment.

Simple Rule: If families actually paid ‘gap’ fees, include these fees in Part 2 Program Payment section. If the fee relief funding was used to cover fees, and families did not pay, include these fees in Part 1 Fee Relief Payment section. Do not include initial daily fee amount prior to applying fee relief funds. If there was a balance ‘gap’ fee families actually paid after applying fee relief funds, include that amount only.

No, services must apply the funding in the order noted in Fee Relief Payment Spending Rules i.e. if there is any surplus after applying the funding to level 1 ‘reduce the daily fees as much as possible for 600 hours per year for eligible children accessing fee relief at the service’, you then apply this surplus to level 2 ‘reduce the cost of additional charges to families accessing fee relief at the service’.

If there is any surplus after applying against level 2, then any surplus funds can be applied against one or all of the options at level 3 which includes reducing the operating expense of the service per the Program Payment spending rules.

Note: The amount entered in Expenditure item iii) # will be automatically deducted from the operating expenses noted in Part 2 Program Payment.

For more information, see the 2023 Start Strong for Community Preschool FAQs.

Yes, financial reporting requirements depend on whether the service provider is classified as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 organisation under NSW Fair Trading guidelines. Services registered with ACNC will still need to attach the required documents relative to Tier 1 or Tier 2 organisations under the NSW Fair Trading guidelines when completing their financial accountability statement.

More information can be found under Financial Reporting Requirements of the Financial Accountability Return Guide, and on the NSW Fair Trading website.

Yes, surplus funds noted in the Non-DoE column on the previous year's Start Strong for Community Preschools/Mobile Preschool financial accountability statement should be manually entered on the current year financial accountability statement. Please do not enter a deficit amount.

Note: This is not the surplus amount noted in your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements from your accountant/bookkeeper. The surplus noted on your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements is a combination of all of your income and expenditure.

No, where services receive multiple funding grants from the department e.g. Fee Relief Payment, Start Strong for Community Preschools/Mobile Preschool funding, Disability and Inclusion funding, Quality and Participation funding etc, the income and expenditure amounts shown on your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements from your accountant/bookkeeper are a combination of all grants and income streams income and expenditure across all programs (including funding received from non-department sources).

Remember to extract the income and expenditure relative to each program when completing your financial accountability statement.

It is not correct to transpose the total line-item amount from your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements unless Start Strong for Community Preschools, Mobile Preschool Contracts or Mobile Preschool Funding Program grant funding is the only grant income your service received from the department.

If you received funding for the Disability and Inclusion Program or the COVID-19 Free Preschool Funding program, remember to first deduct wages paid to staff using these other grants, from the total wages line-item on your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements from your accountant/bookkeeper.

If the service received traineeship grants (through Training Services NSW) or paid parental leave payments (through the Commonwealth Government), or previously JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments (relating to previous funding periods) the wages expenditure of these amounts should be noted against wages expenditure line items for service delivery staff or administration and management staff in the ‘Non-DoE Funds’ column. This is because these funds were received from other sources, and not the NSW Department of Education Early Childhood funding grants

If your service received funding under the Grow Your Own (ECEC) program, any wages paid for trainees using Grow Your Own funding should not be recorded on the Start Strong for Community Preschools/Mobile Preschool Funding Program financial accountability statement. Record these wages amounts on the Grow Your Own (ECEC) program financial accountability statement.

This year the Start Strong for Community Preschools/Mobile Preschool Funding Program Fee Relief Payment and Program Payment are part of a single accountability.

In Part 1 Fee Relief Payment Section, only include the fee relief passed on to families, or where administration costs were paid for using the fee relief payment. Do not include any other expenditure here.

In Part 2 Program Payment, do not include Start Strong for Community Preschools Fee Relief funding, Start Strong Free Preschool, Disability and Inclusion, Quality and Participation or any other department Early Childhood Outcomes grant funding in either income or expenditure under this section. These grants will be acquitted on their own financial accountability statement.

See notes at the bottom of Part 1 Fee Relief Payment on the accountability template.

#Less funds used for operating expenses from Fee Relief payments.

Note: The amount entered in Part 1 Fee Relief Payment Expenditure item iii) # will be automatically deducted from the DoE Funds column operating expenses. This is because the service will be acquitting that amount already under Part 1 Fee Relief Payment expenditure.

Services should enter values into each column in Part 2 Program Payment section on the Start Strong for Community Preschools financial accountability statement.

For some expenditure categories where splitting is difficult (such as 'Salaries and Wages'), a revenue % apportion basis can be used as a guide e.g. if the total income for 'DoE Funds' is $60,000 and 'Non-DoE Funds' is $40,000 totalling to $100,000 then 60% of expenditure can be apportioned to the 'DoE Funds' column and 40% to the 'Non-DoE Funds' column.

If the NSW Department of Education is the major funder e.g. if total income for 'DoE Funds' is $90,000 and 'Non-DoE Funds' is $10,000 totalling to $100,000, then expenditure should be shown first in the 'DoE Funds' column bringing the balance to $0, and remaining expenditure shown under the 'Non-DoE Funds' column.

Services should contact their accountant/bookkeeper to request the breakdown of each grant program for the income and expenditure sections in their financial statements.

Your accountant/bookkeeper can assist you to establish a costing structure to easily identify income and expenditure activity relating to each of your funding grants from the department. In some financial accounting systems this is called a ‘funding code’ or a ‘project number’ for each grant. Each funding code can have a break down by account code for each income and expenditure transaction.

Once each grant has an identified funding code, you will be able to attribute expenditure, eg. delivery staff wages, across one or more fund codes or project numbers. If you have a staff member who works 2 days per week under the Disability and Inclusion Program, and 3 days per week under your Start Strong Program, then part of their wage can be expensed against your Start Strong program payment funding, and part against Disability and Inclusion Program funding.

You will be able to print an income and expenditure report by funding code or project number that will then assist you to easily complete your financial accountability statements.

The total income and expenditure from all your funding codes or project numbers together should tally to the total income and expenditure on your audited/non audited financial statements from your accountant/bookkeeper.

An Asset Register showing Early Childhood Outcomes and non-Early Childhood Outcomes funded assets must be submitted if any depreciation, capital expenditure or sale of assets has been reported in the accountability statement.

It is expected that services will utilise the full DoE funds first, then cover any expenses over and above the DoE grant funding from other sources of funding (Non-DoE Funds) and any retained profits.

If a service has used all department funding, the DoE Funds column total at this section should be $0.00 showing all DoE grant funds have been expended.

Note: There should not be a deficit noted in the DoE Funds column if a surplus is noted in the Non-DoE Funds column. Services would have utilised Non-DoE Funds to cover the deficit noted in the DoE Funds column.

It is acceptable for the service to have surplus funds in the Non-DoE column after all DoE grant funds have been expended (showing $0.00 balance).

A deficit in both DoE Funds and Non-DoE Funds columns is acceptable if a service used all DoE Funds income as well as their Non-DoE Funds income and were required to use any retained profits to meet the shortfall and keep operating.

1. Did you receive funding from any other source other than the department? eg. grants from other NSW or Commonwealth government departments or local councils? If so, you must display this in the in the ‘Non-DoE’ column income section.
   
2. If you have entered any amount into the ‘Non-DoE’ column income section on the financial accountability statement, you will need to show a corresponding expenditure amount in the ‘Non-DoE’ column expenditure section. ECCMS will see income has been recorded in the ‘Non-DoE’ column and will require you to enter an expenditure amount in the ‘Non-DoE’ expenditure section showing how some/all of this funding was spent. Eg. Paid Parental Leave income received from the Commonwealth Government should be recorded in the ‘Other Income’ line item in the ‘Non-DoE’ column in Part 2: Program Payment. The corresponding expenditure will then be recorded in either of the ‘Salaries and wages’ line items in the ‘Non-DoE’ expenditure section.
3. It is not correct to enter $1 or 1c in the ‘Non-DoE’ column expenditure section line items to enable ECCMS to accept the submitted financial accountability statement.

These charges often arise when there is a central administration or head office cost centre that supports multiple units within an organisation. It is acceptable for service providers to allocate a reasonable portion of overhead costs to Early Childhood Outcomes funded programs. This however must be performed on a consistent basis and as part of an appropriate costing methodology or refer to question above “I do not have an exact breakdown of the DoE portion and the non-DoE portion of my yearly expenditure. How much should I apportion to the DoE expenditure column?” to use a similar approach.

No, if a service has incurred a deficit in prior years, this deficit cannot be carried forward and should be absorbed by the service provider.

Surplus thresholds are based on the total surplus after completing both Part 1 Fee Relief Payment and Part 2 Program Payment expenditure on the financial accountability statement.

A surplus amount will be noted in the bottom row at ‘Total Surplus’ with a calculated percentage of what that surplus amount is compared to the funding paid under the 2023 Start Strong for Community Preschools Program.

The threshold is based on the surplus percentage of the total funding under this program. For more information see Surplus and Refunds in the 2023 Start Strong for Community Preschools Guidelines. Visit Start Strong for Community Preschools to access the guidelines.

The service will firstly need to calculate 10% of the annual Start Strong for Community Preschools Program Funding. Examples and further information can be found in the Part 3-DOE Funding Surplus Overview and Declaration FAQ in the Financial Accountability Return Guide.

The department understands that some providers may have a surplus at the end of their reporting period which needs to be returned to the department according to the Terms and Conditions.

This is applicable to services receiving funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools only, and does not apply to Mobile Preschool Funding Program

After completing the financial accountability statement, services can calculate their surplus threshold and choose how they would like to manage their surplus (if any) from the relative Option A or B.

A service can then apply to retain surplus funding (where applicable) under the total Start Strong for Community Preschools Program. See the instructions on the accountability template or noted in the Financial Accountability Return Guide.

The service will firstly need to calculate 10% of the annual Start Strong for Community Preschools Program Funding.

See the examples below:

1. The service will calculate the 10% of the annual Start Strong for Community Preschools Program funding e.g. $380,000 x 10% = $38,000. This is calculated using the annual program funding (total of Fee Relief Payment plus Program Payment).
2. ECCMS will calculate the surplus amount into a percentage e.g. $27,000 ÷ $380,000 x 100 = 7.1%,

If the surplus is up 10% or $30,000 (whichever is greater) of the annual program funding, the service should select Option A.

If the surplus threshold is greater than 10% or $30,000 (whichever is greater) of the annual program funding, the service should select Option B.

Service can choose to keep the amount below 10% of program funding or $30,000 (whichever is greater).

As $27,000 is less than $38,000 (10% of the annual program funding), the service can opt to keep the surplus to carry over to the next funding period.

Service can choose to keep $38,000 (up to 10% of program funding).

Additionally, where the service has an operational need to retain the surplus, they can apply to the department to keep the surplus amount which is greater than 10% or $30,000 (whichever is higher).

A service is first required to complete the Surplus Application Form and then select the confirmation box (the top box at Option B) on the financial accountability statement.

When completing the Surplus Application Form the service can choose to keep the additional $4,000 which is the amount above the $38,000 (higher than 10% or $30,000).

No, DoE surplus funds cannot be transferred to other service providers, between services or across funded programs, unless it is permitted specifically in the program guidelines.

This year under the Start Strong for Community Preschools program/Mobile Preschool Funding Program, services can choose to reduce their operating expenses relating to their program payment by ‘transferring’ any final surplus funds under Part 1 Fee Relief Payment to Part 2 Program Payment section. This is performed automatically by ECCMS when the amount to ‘transfer’ is entered into the cell in item iii) # reduce service’s operating expenses in the Fee Relief Payment expenditure table.

This year, there is an additional attachment in the list. In reference to the Start Strong 2023 implementation support project delivered by Community Connection Solutions Australia (CCSA), services will need to attach a separate statement that reconciles with the Fee Relief Income and Liability accounts. The statement can be in the form of a transaction listing or a report.

See Financial Reporting Requirements in the Financial Accountability Return Guide for further information.