From disconnected systems to demonstrable trust: a new era for grants management in local government

Grants are the lifeblood of community development for Local Government Authorities (LGAs) across Australia.

Each year, more than A$3 billion in Financial Assistance Grants are distributed by the Australian Government to councils nationwide, supporting everything from essential infrastructure to community wellbeing programs.

This national funding stream underscores the critical role grants play in helping councils deliver local services and invest in community growth.

Financial Assistance Grants by jurisdiction 2024-25

Source: ALGA 2024-25 - Budget Analysis (May 2024)

However, with significant funding comes immense accountability. Many councils across Australia face the same challenge – disconnected systems that create unnecessary risk and inefficiency.

Our research during the development of TechnologyOne’s integrated solutions revealed a common struggle: many councils are flying blind, relying on a patchwork of spreadsheets and standalone systems to manage their grant portfolios.

This fragmented approach often leads to poor visibility, inconsistent reporting, and a constant battle to reconcile grant funds with the projects they are meant to support.

The problem is a familiar one. Critical data is scattered across separate systems for grants, projects, contracts, and finance. Council staff spend countless hours manually collating this information, a process that is not only slow but also fraught with the risk of human error. By the time a manager sees a budget report, the money has often already been spent, making it impossible to prevent overruns proactively.

This manual chaos culminates in what we call "the audit nightmare." When auditors call, it often triggers a high-stakes scramble to piece together an audit trail, risking fund clawbacks and public embarrassment. In a climate of rate capping and rising inflation, such inefficiencies are no longer sustainable.

To address these deep-seated challenges, TechnologyOne has collaborated closely with councils to reimagine how grants, projects, and contracts are managed. The result is a unified solution that seamlessly brings these functions together within a single ERP platform, creating one source of truth that offers complete visibility from grant application to acquittal.

This integrated approach delivers:

• Stronger financial control: By tracking every dollar from the initial grant award through to project milestones and specific contract invoices, councils can move from reacting to problems to preventing them entirely.
• Enhanced reporting: With everyone working from the same live data, every report is consistent. This provides one defensible truth, so you can spend your time highlighting the great work you're doing, not explaining why the numbers don't match.
• Efficiency gains: Automating the flow of information between grants, projects, contracts, and finance eliminates the need for manual reconciliation, freeing up your team to focus on what they were hired to do: deliver value to the community.

Newcastle City Council, an early adopter of our Grants Management module, noted:

“Having a single source of truth within our core ERP system will transform how we manage our grant portfolio across our entire organisation. The level of visibility and enhanced pre-award and post-award tracking that the Grants Management module provides is exactly what we needed to ensure best practice inward grants management.”

This sentiment is echoed by other councils that have seen the potential of a truly integrated system. Simone Watson, Financial Systems Team Leader at Cardinia Shire Council had the following to say about adopting the new integration that will extend on their existing TechnologyOne Grants Management function:

"We are excited to build on our success by adopting the native integration across Grants, Projects, and Contracts. Having a single line of sight from a grant award, through project delivery, to the final contract payment is a game-changer for reporting and accountability. This traceability will add significant value to our financial processes and provide a new level of confidence in our decision-making".

Grants form a significant portion of council revenue, and their effective management is essential for the sustainability and growth of community services.  The National Financial Assistance Grants program provides an equitable framework for distributing funds across all councils, but it’s up to each council to ensure robust systems are in place for accountability and optimal use of public funds.