Compliance requirements for community controlled cooperatives

Identifying the compliance requirements for Aboriginal Community Controlled Cooperatives in Victoria

Aboriginal community controlled health services have very complicated funding arrangements and get funds from many different areas within different levels of government and from non-government sources. This creates significant issues and costs associated with planning, negotiating, monitoring and accounting for these funds. However, the actual cost of this work has not been estimated and there is no complete list of all the compliance requirements of Aboriginal Community Controlled Cooperatives (ACCHOs).

A detailed case study of compliance (transaction) costs for an ACCHO would provide useful evidence to support both the sector and those in government in their work to introduce more efficient and streamlined funding processes. The first step in doing such as study is to identify a complete list of all the business, legal and statutory compliance requirements of ACCHOs and the timelines for reporting. The second step will be to use this information to undertake a costing study in one medium sized ACCHO in Victoria to document transaction costs. This study will undertake the first step of this work and enable the establishment of a research partnership between the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne in the corporate services area.

Related resources:

• Taking Care of Business: Corporate Services for Indigenous Primary Health Care Services – project reports and web tool
• The Overburden Report: Contracting for Indigenous Health Services, Dwyer, J., O’Donnell, K., Lavoie, J., Marlina, U. & Sullivan, P. 2009 (reprinted 2011), CRCAH, Darwin.