A guide published by Dotto
Audit services: when the law requires an audit, and who may sign it
An audit is usually a duty that a law switches on at a size: a charity’s revenue, an association’s revenue or assets, a strata scheme’s lots or budget. Each law also says who may do the work, and the lists differ. This is a guide to five of those duties in plain words, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page.
General information only, not legal or accounting advice. The official places to check are the ACNC, ASIC, Consumer Affairs Victoria and NSW Fair Trading, each linked from the guide that relies on it.
Five duties, side by side
Each row is one law, read on 9 October 2026. The amounts are the current ones, with the year each applies from.
| Who | When a review or audit is required | Who may do it |
|---|---|---|
| A registered charity (ACNC Act 2012) | Medium, with revenue of $500,000 or more and less than $3,000,000: reviewed or audited. Large, at $3,000,000 or more: audited. From the 2022–23 financial year. | A registered company auditor, a firm with a registered company auditor member ordinarily resident in Australia, an authorised audit company, or an Auditor-General, a person exercising that office or an individual an Auditor-General delegates the audit to; for a medium charity’s review, also a member of a professional accounting body holding a prescribed designation. |
| A Victorian incorporated association (Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012) | Tier two, from $500,000 up to and including $3,000,000 total revenue: reviewed. Tier three, more than $3,000,000: audited. From the financial year commencing on 1 July 2024. | An “independent person” with one of the qualifications the Act lists, or approved by the Registrar. |
| A NSW incorporated association (Associations Incorporation Act 2009) | Tier 1, with gross receipts over $500,000 or current assets over $1,000,000: audited. No review tier. For financial years ending on or after 1 July 2024. | A registered company auditor, an authorised audit company, a professional accounting body member with a public practice certificate, or a person the Secretary approves. |
| A company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity (Corporations Act 2001) | Set by other provisions; ASIC says, for example, that a large proprietary company’s accounts must be audited unless ASIC grants relief. | A registered company auditor, a firm with a registered company auditor member ordinarily resident in Australia or New Zealand, or an authorised audit company. Two exceptions: an individual ASIC approves to audit a proprietary company where a registered auditor is impracticable because of where the company carries on business (s 324BD), and, for a review of a company limited by guarantee, a member of a professional accounting body holding a prescribed designation (s 324BE). |
| A NSW strata scheme (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015) | More than 100 lots, not counting utility and parking lots, or an annual budget over $250,000: audited before the AGM. | Not named in the Act or its Regulation; the audit follows the Australian Auditing Standards. |
Where exactly the line falls
The same two figures, $500,000 and $3,000,000, sit in the ACNC scheme and in Victoria’s, with different words around them. The ACNC Act draws its lines with “less than”; Victoria’s tier three needs “more than”. NSW uses “exceed”. So a body sitting exactly on a figure can land in different places:
ACNC: registered charities
- Exactly $500,000: medium
- Exactly $3,000,000: large
Victoria: incorporated associations
- Exactly $500,000: tier two
- Exactly $3,000,000: tier two
NSW: incorporated associations, gross receipts
- Exactly $500,000, with current assets of $1,000,000 or less: Tier 2
Revenue is not counted the same way either. The ACNC Act calculates it under accounting standards; Victoria counts total income from all activities before any expenses; NSW looks at the total revenue in the income and expenditure statement, or at current assets held on the last day of the previous financial year. The bars show order, not scale.
A charity that is also an association
In NSW, for a financial year that ended on or after 1 April 2026, when the exemption began, a Tier 1 association that is an ACNC registered entity and meets the Regulation’s reporting conditions is exempt from the state audit. In Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria’s exemption for registered charities covers its annual statement and fee, and the association still prepares its financial statements and presents them to members. None of the sources read for this guide says whether one review or audit can meet both a state Act and the ACNC Act, so no rule on that is given here.
The five guides
- Charities: when the ACNC requires a review or an audit
The three sizes, the Regulations’ amounts, and the four kinds of auditor the Act allows.
- Incorporated associations: review and audit by tier in Victoria and NSW
Two states, two sets of tiers, and the exemptions for registered charities.
- Registered company auditors: who the Corporations Act allows to audit
Individuals, firms and authorised audit companies, the two exceptions, and how ASIC registers.
- Conflicts of interest and rotation, under the Corporations Act
The conflict of interest rules, the five-of-seven-years limit, and the declaration to directors.
- Strata scheme audits in NSW: when the accounts must be audited
The 100-lot and $250,000 tests, how the budget is counted, and what the audit covers.