14. Under arrangements with the DMO, the ANAO has agreed to review specified PDSS data and present a formal review conclusion.
15. The conclusion of the review of the PDSSs was that, except for the non-inclusion of project expenditure history in Section 2.2 expressed in base date dollars8 for three of the 11 Major Projects specified in the guidelines as being required to report expenditure in base date dollars (as explained further in paragraph 1.23), nothing has come to the attention of the ANAO that causes us to believe that the information in the PDSSs, within the scope of our review, has not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the guidelines on completing the PDSSs.
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8 By converting the actual expenditure on a project to base date dollars, an assessment is able to be made of the performance of the project against its originally approved budget (base date dollars). Base date dollars is the amount, adjusted for the impact of inflation (prices) and foreign exchange movement over the period from a specified date (usually Second Pass Approval). In order that the initial budgeted cost of a project can be compared to the actual expenditure over time, in like terms, the financial tables in the PDSSs also adjust for real variations to budgeted costs, which involve: changes in the quantities of equipment or capability; transfers to the Defence Support Group to fund the acquisition of facilities and transfers to other projects; and budgetary adjustments such as the impact of efficiency dividends.