Building Grants Administration Capability
Published: 19 May 2026
Project Overview
Executive Summary
A common gap of capability that AcademyGlobal has observed relates to grants administration or grants management. Grants management and grants administration, whilst having many of the same characteristics and general approaches to procurement, nonetheless have some significant unique features. AcademyGlobal has worked extensively with a number of departments and agencies for whom grants are a significant part of their operating environment. Using and supporting the jurisdiction’s respective grant administration guide that reflects the core principles of the overarching Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles (CGRPs) in conjunction with department and agency-specific policy guidance materials, AG develops case studies which relate specifically to the nature and type of grants that the organisation is working with.
The Challenge
Grants, by comparison to most goods and services procurement contracts, lack the same level of prescription in terms of policy, although some jurisdictions have developed Grants Administration Guides or similar resources which have assisted them in having a more consistent understanding across the grants administration process. A problem associated with low levels of prescription and high levels of discretion able to be exercised through ministerial grants leads to increased vulnerability.
The Australian National Audit Office has repeatedly highlighted weaknesses in grants administration practice at the Commonwealth level, and similar patterns appear across state and territory jurisdictions.
Conflicts of interest can arise between grantees, who are the recipients of grant funding, and the grant-providing departments or agencies. In turn, instances where conflicts of interest are apparent, either around the origination of the grant or around maintaining standards of performance of the grantee in line with the grant documentation, lead to cynicism and scepticism from unsuccessful grant applicants. It also leads to broader public scepticism in relation to whether public money is being spent effectively.
One of the challenges in the perception of grants is that they are typically made available to organisations where a lower level of commercial acumen or administrative sophistication exists. This is particularly the case for small regional and community grants where a grant may be provided to an arts organisation, an Indigenous community, or a local government organisation for a relatively small sum, $10,000 to $50,000. The administrative and reporting obligations against grants of this value become uneconomic, which serves to reduce the attractiveness of grants; or, in the grants administration process, it reduces the compliance obligation as grantees find the burden of reporting outweighs the value of the grant itself.
The Strategy and Solution
AcademyGlobal has worked extensively with a number of departments and agencies for whom grants are a significant part of their operating environment. Using and supporting the the jurisdiction’s respective grant administration guide that reflects the core principles of the overarching Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles (CGRPs) in conjunction with department and agency-specific policy guidance materials, we developed case studies which relate specifically to the nature and type of grants that the organisation is working with.
The training traces across the grant lifecycle:
- Conception of the grant opportunity and the idea.
- Market testing processes (if involved), or contract passing to a ministerial direction leading to the grant.
- Onboarding of the grantee organisation.
- Monitoring of grant performance against the performance criteria in the grant documentation.
- The conclusion of the grant, including the finance and accounting obligations which vary according to the value and complexity of the grant, including the use of acquittals.
- The role of independent third-party accounting firms auditing the books of the grantee organisation subsequent to the conclusion of the grant.
Case studies are drawn from the specific grants the agency runs, not from generic examples. This is what makes the training resonate. A small community grants program, an industry development grant, and an Indigenous business support grant all involve different risk profiles, different documentation expectations, and different acquittal practices. Generic training cannot teach any of these well.
AG’s Grant Management programme and Financial Literacy for Grants Administration and Management course form the open-enrolment equivalents to this work.
Delivery and Execution
Phase 1: Discovery and grant portfolio review
AG works with the agency to understand its grant portfolio, the policy framework that governs it, the agency-specific guidance materials, and the recurring areas of weakness or audit interest. This produces the case study material and the content focus. This phase involves the head of finance and senior manager compliance across two meetings in one week.
Phase 2: Lifecycle-based training delivery
Training traces across the grant lifecycle from conception of the grant opportunity through to the conclusion of the grant, including the finance and accounting obligations, the use of acquittals, and the role of independent third-party accounting firms auditing the books of the grantee. The blended-mode training links every stage back to the jurisdiction’s Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines or the relevant state or territory equivalent.
Phase 3: Reinforcement and senior executive briefing
Where appropriate, AG supports follow-on briefings for senior executives, including Director Generals, Department Secretaries, and Deputy Secretaries, on the defensibility position the training establishes.
The Results and Success
The training interventions provided by AcademyGlobal serve to ensure that a more consistent and thorough understanding of the end-to-end grants process in line with whole-of-government or whole-of-territory law and policy is understood. This is contextualised through specific types of examples of the various grants which individual agencies provide.
This increases the robustness, compliance culture, and defensibility for senior executives, including up to Director Generals, Department Secretaries, and Deputy Secretaries, in terms of the use of public monies.
AG continues to build grants capability across departments and agencies through tailored programmes. Open-enrolment equivalents include the Grant Management programme and the Financial Literacy for Grants Administration and Management course. For agencies seeking the same custom model, AG’s tailored in-house programs remain the preferred route.
Frequently Asked Questions
Grants share many lifecycle features with procurement, but operate under lower policy prescription, higher discretion, and a different relationship with the recipient. Grantees are often less commercially sophisticated than procurement counterparties, and conflicts of interest can emerge differently. Grants also include an acquittal and independent audit tail that has no direct procurement equivalent.
An acquittal is the formal closing-out of a grant, in which the grantee accounts for how the grant funds were spent and the grantor confirms that the funds were used in line with the grant documentation. The process scales with grant value and complexity, and may involve independent third-party accounting firms auditing the grantee’s books after the grant concludes.
By anchoring training in the jurisdiction’s centralised Grant Administration Guide or equivalent, in agency-specific guidance, and in case studies drawn from the actual grants the agency runs. The Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines and equivalent state and territory frameworks provide a consistent backbone even where individual programmes carry significant discretion.