Australian Human Rights Commission
Annual Report 2021–22
2.2 Non-Financial Assets (continued)
Accounting Policy
Assets are recorded at cost on acquisition except as stated below.
The cost of acquisition includes the fair value of assets transferred in exchange and liabilities
undertaken. Financial assets are initially measured at their fair value plus transaction costs where
appropriate.
Assets acquired at no cost, or for nominal consideration, are initially recognised as assets and
income at their fair value at the date of acquisition, unless acquired as a consequence of
restructuring of administrative arrangements. In the latter case, assets are initially recognised as
contributions by owners at the amounts at which they were recognised in the transferor’s accounts
immediately prior to the restructuring.
Asset Recognition Threshold
Purchases of property, plant and equipment are recognised initially at cost in the statement of
financial position, except for purchases costing less than $5,000, which are expensed in the year of
acquisition (other than where they form part of a group of similar items which are significant in
total).
The initial cost of an asset includes an estimate of the cost of dismantling and removing the item
and restoring the site on which it is located. This is particularly relevant to ‘make good’ provisions
in property leases taken up by the entity where there exists an obligation to restore the property to
its original condition. These costs are included in the value of the Commission's leasehold
improvements with a corresponding provision for the ‘make good’ recognised.
Lease Right of Use (ROU) Assets
Leased ROU assets are capitalised at the commencement date of the lease and comprise of the
initial lease liability amount, initial direct costs incurred when entering into the lease less any lease
incentives received. These assets are accounted for by Commonwealth lessees as separate asset
classes to corresponding assets owned outright, but included in the same column as where the
corresponding underlying assets would be presented if they were owned.
On initial adoption of AASB 16 the Commission has adjusted the ROU assets at the date of initial
application by the amount of any provision for onerous leases recognised immediately before the
date of initial application. Following initial application, an impairment review is undertaken for any
right of use lease asset that shows indicators of impairment and an impairment loss is recognised
against any right of use lease asset that is impaired. Lease ROU assets continue to be measured at
cost after initial recognition in Commonwealth agency, GGS and Whole of Government financial
statements.
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