Sensitive Expenditure

Council’s Audit and Risk Subcommittee has oversight into areas of Council expenditure that could be considered sensitive


The Office of the Auditor General defines sensitive expenditure as “as any spending by an organisation that could be seen to be giving private benefit to staff additional to the business benefit to the organisation. Problems can arise with expenditure related to travel, accommodation, and hospitality, and particular care needs to be taken with these. Problems can also arise from expenditure that is unusual or is not closely related to an organisation’s purpose and/or functions”.

The full publication can be located: https://oag.parliament.nz/good-practice/sensitive-expenditure

It also includes expenditure by a public entity that could be considered unusual for the entity’s purpose and/or functions.

Under HCC and Group policy, Sensitive Expenditure is “spending by the Group that could be seen to give some benefit to an employee that is additional to the operational benefit to the Group of the expenditure. It also includes spending by the Group that could be considered unusual or unrelated to the Group’s purpose, function or core activities”.

Council’s Audit and Risk Subcommittee has oversight into areas of Council expenditure that could be considered sensitive. From 1 July 2020 the Subcommittee will receive  and evaluation regular reports on Sensitive Expenditure as a standing item. The report will focus on key areas of Council that may be subject  to increased scrutiny, with these being:

  • Directors of business units within Council
  • Chief Executive
  • Councillors
  • Mayor

The summaries of Sensitive Expenditure are published below:

DetailsFile Information
Sensitive Expenditure 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024PDF 309kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 October 2023 to 31 December 2023PDF 333kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023PDF 296kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 April 2023 to 30 June 2023PDF 326 kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2023PDF 979kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022PDF 235kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 July 2022 to 30 September 2022PDF 190kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022PDF 199kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022PDF 143kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2021PDF 94kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021PDF 144kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021PDF 187kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021PDF 122kb
Sensitive Expenditure 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020PDF 146kb