The 2025/26 Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR) introduces an externally audited Care Minutes Performance Statement for residential providers, and the Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) has changed from Quarter 1 2026/27. Both put more weight on records that can be traced back to source.
The ACFR is due on 31 October. The Quarter 1 2026-27 QFR is now open in the GPMS Registered Provider Portal and is due on 4 November.
What has changed in the QFR
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has released an updated Quarter 1 2026/27 QFR template and data definitions. The main changes are:
- New residential expense fields for care consumables, direct care, everyday living, accommodation and administration.
- Registered nurse (RN) worked hours are now reported as totals, without separate shift information.
- Support at Home providers no longer report quarterly labour costs. Only rates of pay are required, and detailed Support at Home income and expenses remain reportable through the annual ACFR.
What is new in the 2025/26 ACFR
Residential providers must submit a new Care Minutes Performance Statement. It must be externally audited, and it covers:
- Actual direct care labour costs and hours
- Occupied bed days
- Monthly 24/7 RN coverage.
For this first year, care minutes and expenses cover Quarter 3 and Quarter 4, while RN coverage covers November 2025 to June 2026. Home Care Package activity up to 31 October 2025 and Support at Home activity from 1 November 2025 must be reported separately.
New and amended residential reporting items also reflect the Aged Care Act 2024, including Higher Everyday Living Fees, operational bed days and refundable accommodation deposit (RAD) retention reductions.
Why early preparation matters
Because the statement is externally audited, your auditor will want to trace reported hours and costs back to source records. The guidance is to engage your auditor early, and to make sure your care minutes data can be supported by roster, attendance, payroll and financial records. Keeping rostering, payroll and financial records in one integrated system makes that tracing much simpler.
Care minutes targets: what counts
Service-level care minutes targets for Quarter 2 (October to December) have been published, and providers must meet them for their approved residential aged care homes. Only activities in section 4.1 of the care minutes guide count towards the targets, consistent with the direct care definition in the Aged Care Rules 2025.
Activities outside those items cannot be counted, including services on the residential everyday living service list at section 8-145 of the Aged Care Rules 2025.
Practical steps
- Check that your payroll records let you identify rates of pay separately for each of the four direct care worker categories.
- Confirm your chart of accounts and financial reporting structure can separately identify the information the updated QFR template asks for.
- Download the Quarter 1 2026/27 template and data definitions from the Department’s QFR resources page.
- Reconcile roster, attendance, payroll and financial records for the care minutes period, and note any gaps now.
- Book time with your auditor now, with the ACFR due on 31 October.
How Care Systems supports your reporting
Care Systems brings rostering, payroll and financial records together in one integrated system, so the information behind your reports comes from a single source. That matters when an auditor asks you to trace care minutes back to the records.
Here is how that helps in practice:
- Rostering. The Roster Checking Rules in RostCare flag issues with breaks, shift lengths and classifications before a roster is published, so your rosters start from cleaner data.
- Payroll. Our Employee Pay Rate Audit Report helps you check employees’ rates of pay, which is a useful starting point when you need rates of pay by direct care worker category.
- Residential reporting. Our ACFR Accommodation Balances report has been updated for the 2025/26 financial year to meet the new refundable accommodation deposit (RAD) and daily accommodation payment (DAP) field definitions, and our Knowledge Base includes QFR and ACFR guides.
- Your own analysis. ExtraCare lets your team build and refresh reports in Excel directly from your Care Systems data, which is useful when you reconcile roster, payroll and financial records before speaking with your auditor.
Further Resources:
Quarterly Financial Report Resources
Care Minutes Guide for Registered Providers of Residential Care Homes
If you would like to see how Care Systems can help you prepare or request a product demo, reach out to the team today.
