Campaign accounts and record keeping
Parties, groups, candidates and other election participants at the 2023 NSW State election are responsible for understanding and complying with the rules for campaign accounts and record keeping set out in the Electoral Funding Act and the Electoral Funding Regulation.
This section provides an overview of what parties, groups, candidates and other election participants need to understand about operating a campaign account and keeping records of political donations and electoral expenditure.
The rules set out in the section Political donations in relation to who is responsible for the management and disclosure of political donations and electoral expenditure apply to the use of campaign accounts and keeping of records.
For further information go to Campaign accounts page or contact us.
On this page
What is a campaign account?
A campaign account is an account that is required to be kept by a party for making payments of electoral expenditure. A party’s campaign account may also be required to be used by the party agent on behalf of elected members, candidates and groups the party agent is responsible for.
A campaign account is also an account that is required to be kept by an elected member, group or candidate for an election where the elected member, lead candidate or candidate is responsible for the management and disclosure of political donations and electoral expenditure.
A campaign account is to be separate to any other accounts of the party, elected member, group or candidate and must be held with a financial institution in Australian dollars.
There are no requirements under the Electoral Funding Act as to the name of a campaign account however a financial institution may require an account to be kept in the name of the party, elected member, group or candidate.
Campaign account for an elected member, group or candidate where the party agent is responsible
Question | Answer |
|---|---|
Which campaign account to use | The party’s State campaign account, kept by the party agent. The party agent must be authorised to operate the party’s State campaign account for these purposes and must have access to the bank statements to keep complete and accurate records. (The elected member, group or candidate cannot keep a campaign account for the election). |
Who can make payments into or from the campaign account | Into the campaign account - the party agent. From the campaign account - any person appointed by the party agent. The party agent should keep a written record of the appointment. |
| What can be deposited into the campaign account | Contributions made by the candidate to finance their own campaign. Political donations made to or for the benefit of the elected member, group or candidate, subject to political donation caps and rules, including a contribution made by a candidate to finance the election campaign of the group of which the candidate is a member. |
| What can be paid from the campaign account | Payments for electoral expenditure on behalf of the elected member, group or candidate. Payments for electoral expenditure for an electoral district. This is separate from the above payments and separate expenditure caps apply to the party and each candidate. |
| What can be paid outside the campaign account | Minor payments of electoral expenditure of $50 or less (and no more than $1,000 in total in an election period). A record must be kept by the party agent in the petty cash book that is required to be kept. |
Campaign account of an elected member, group or candidate where the elected member, lead candidate or candidate is responsible
Question | Answer |
|---|---|
Which campaign account to use | A campaign account kept for each political participant who or which, in the period from 22 April 2019 to 24 April 2023:
For example, if a candidate in a group receives a political donation for their own benefit, they must keep a separate campaign account to the group. |
Who can make payments into or from the campaign account | Group campaign account: the lead candidate, or a person appointed by them to do so. Candidate or elected member campaign account: the candidate or elected member, or a person appointed by them to do so. The person operating the account must be authorised with the financial institution to operate the account. A written record should be kept of any appointments. |
| What can be deposited into the campaign account | Group campaign account:
Candidate or elected member campaign account (if kept):
|
| What can be paid from the campaign account | Group campaign account:
Candidate or elected member campaign account (if kept):
|
| What can be paid outside the campaign account | Minor payments of electoral expenditure of $50 or less (and no more than $1,000 in total in an election period). A record must be kept in the petty cash book that is required to be kept. |
When the account is no longer required it may be closed. Any amount remaining in the campaign account must be paid:
to the party of which the elected member or candidate was a member at the time of the election, or
in the case of a group - to the campaign accounts (if any) operated for the candidates who were members of the group (the amount being divided equally among the candidates), or
if none of the above apply - to a charity nominated by the elected member, group or candidate.
Records must be kept of the bank statements from the account for the purpose of a compliance audit that will be undertaken by the NSW Electoral Commission.
Record keeping
Complete and accurate accounting and financial records must be kept by parties, party agents, elected members, groups and candidates for at least 3 years in order for political donations and electoral expenditure to be properly disclosed.
The following people and entities are responsible for keeping records of political donations and electoral expenditure:
a party is responsible for keeping the party’s records,
a party agent on behalf of an elected member, group or candidate for whom the party agent is responsible is responsible for keeping the elected member, group or candidate’s records,
a lead candidate on behalf of a group is responsible for keeping the group’s records,
an elected member is responsible for keeping their own records, or
a candidate is responsible for keeping their own records.
Accounting records may be kept in paper or electronic form. If records are kept in electronic form the records must comply with the requirements for keeping paper records to the extent the requirements can be reasonably complied with.
If accounting records are kept in electronic form the responsible person must ensure that:
entries appear in chronological sequence, and
all entries are numbered sequentially in a manner that enables the completeness of the records to be conveniently verified, and
no amendment to the particulars of a transaction already recorded can be made otherwise than by a separate transaction effecting the amendment, and
a back-up copy of all records that are less than 3 years old must made at least once a month, and
the most recent back-up copy must be kept in a separate location so that any incident that might adversely affect the records would not affect the back-up copy.
Political party records
Political parties are required to keep the following accounting records at the party’s headquarters in New South Wales:
a receipt book for monetary reportable political donations
an acknowledgement book for non-monetary reportable political donations
a deposit book
a cash book, or a receipts cash book and payments cash book
a cheque book
a journal, and
a ledger.
If a party wishes to keep an alternative system of accounts, approval must be sought from the NSW Electoral Commission.
Elected member, group and candidate records
The person responsible for an elected member, group or candidate is required to keep the following paper or electronic accounting records in relation to the elected member, group or candidate’s election campaign:
a receipt book for monetary reportable political donations,
an acknowledgement book for non-monetary reportable political donations,
a cheque book,
a petty cash book, and
a cash book, or a receipts cash book and payments cash book.
If a party agent is responsible for more than one elected member, group or candidate, separate records must be kept for each elected member, group and candidate.
Receipt and acknowledgement books
The NSW Electoral Commission provides elected members, groups and candidates (and party agents where they are responsible) with receipt and acknowledgement books for reportable political donations received. To request a receipt/acknowledgement book email fdc@elections.nsw.gov.au.
Each receipt/acknowledgment comes in triplicate form: the original must be given to person who made the reportable political donation, the duplicate is to be kept by the person responsible for their records and the triplicate is to stay in the book and be sent back to the NSW Electoral Commission when the person discloses political donations to the NSW Electoral Commission.
Each receipt/acknowledgement contains a statement to advise the donor of their obligation to disclose the political donation to the NSW Electoral Commission.
An electronic version of a receipt or acknowledgement may be used with the approval of the NSW Electoral Commission.
Deposit book (applies to parties)
The deposit book must contain deposit forms in duplicate for the financial institution at which the party’s account is kept. The following is to be entered on each form:
the date of the deposit
the amount of the deposit
the form (cash, cheque or postal order) of the deposit
in the case of a deposit by cheque, the name of the drawer of the cheque.
A carbon impression of the deposit must be made on the duplicate form which must be retained by the party. The party must ensure that:
the deposit book is produced to the financial institution at the time of making a deposit of a political donation, and
the details referred to above are entered on each deposit form at the time of making the deposit, and
the carbon impression of each complete deposit entry must be initialled by an officer of the financial institution and is stamped with the stamp of that financial institution.
A deposit book may be kept electronically as described above (e.g., it must comply with the requirements to the extent they can be reasonably complied with).
Petty cash book (applies to elected members, candidates and groups)
The paper or electronic petty cash book is used for recording cash payments for items of expenditure of $50 or less including those payments made outside of the campaign account.
Cash book, or a receipts cash book and payments cash book
The cash book must be a book or books, with consecutively numbered sheets. The consecutive numbers of receipts issued or cheques drawn must be shown on the respective sheets. If the loose-leaf principle is used, separate sheets can be kept for the receipts cash book and the payments cash book, and it is not necessary to number the sheets consecutively.
As soon as possible after a transaction the following details must be entered in the cash book:
on the receipts side of the cash book, on the receipts cash sheets or in the receipts cash book – details of all money received by way of political donations
on the disbursements side of the cash book, on the payments cash sheets or in the payments cash book - details of all money disbursed by way of electoral expenditure.
At the end of each month, the cash book or books must be balanced and the balance carried forward to the commencement of the next month and in the case of a party, to a ledger account provided for that purpose.
At the end of each month:
the entries in the cash book or books must be compared with the statement of the financial institution where the account is kept
amounts credited to the account and appearing in the relevant statement for which no receipt had been written and amounts debited to the account and appearing in the relevant statement for which no cheque had been drawn must be entered in the cash book or books.
Any necessary reconciliation (showing the balance in the account as indicated in the relevant statement, and adding any money received but not banked and deducting any cheques drawn but not presented for payment) must be entered in the cash book at the end of the entries for the month.
A cash book may be kept electronically as described above (e.g., it must comply with the requirements to the extent they can be reasonably complied with).
Journal (applies to parties)
As soon as possible after each transaction, the party must enter in the paper or electronic journal details of:
the value of any interest in property donated to the party, and
details of any interest in property disposed of by the party otherwise than for money, and
all adjustments to be made to accounts in the ledger, and
all transfers to be made from one ledger account to another, and
all other transactions affecting any ledger account which are not posted or to be posted from the cash book to the ledger, being transactions relating to political donations received or electoral expenditure incurred.
The details of each entry in the journal must be sufficient to identify the transaction in respect of each entry and the reason for that entry.
Ledger (applies to parties)
The ledger must contain details of all political donations received and electoral expenditure incurred.
The details must, if taken in conjunction with other details in the receipt book, cash book or books and journal, be sufficient to identify the transaction in respect of which the political donation was received or the electoral expenditure incurred.
Each entry in the cash book or books relating to a political donation received or an electoral expenditure incurred must be posted as soon as practicable to the appropriate account in the ledger.
Against each entry in the ledger account there must be recorded:
a reference to the folio of the cash book from which the entry is posted, or
if the cash book is kept on the loose-leaf principle, a reference to the receipt number or cheque number.
Each entry in the journal relating to a political donation received or an electoral expenditure incurred must be posted as soon as practicable to the appropriate account in the ledger.
There must be recorded against each entry in the ledger account a reference to the folio of the journal from which the entry is posted, preceded by the letter “J”.
At the end of each month, each account in the ledger must be balanced and the balance (if any) must be carried forward to the commencement of the next month.
A ledger may be kept electronically as described above (e.g., it must comply with the requirements to the extent they can be reasonably complied with).
Records of DVDs, video tapes etc
The following applies to any DVD, video tape, film, transparency or electronic video file that is used:
for the purposes of an advertisement appearing on television or at a cinema
at the direction, or with the approval, of a party, elected member, group or candidate.
The party, elected member, group or candidate must keep any such DVD, video tape, film, transparency or electronic video file for 12 months after the advertisement was last broadcast.
The NSW Electoral Commission may ask to view a copy of the DVD etc for the purpose of undertaking a compliance audit or investigation.
Records of other advertising
The following applies to any electoral expenditure for advertising which is incurred by a party, elected member, group or candidate. The party, elected member, group or candidate must keep advertising material for 3 years after the advertising was last distributed:
a copy of the text of any radio or internet advertisement or a copy of the radio or internet advertisement,
if the expenditure is incurred in respect of an advertisement in one or more newspapers or periodicals:
- the full page of the newspaper or periodical in which the advertisement is displayed
a statement identifying the advertisement and listing the name of each newspaper and periodical in which the advertisement was published, the size of the advertisement and the date of each publication, and
if the expenditure is incurred in respect of other printed election campaign material, a copy of each printed item.