StewartBrown Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey

Who is this for?

This survey is for Board Directors, CEOs, CFO’s, financial controllers and managers of organisations, who want to benchmark their progress against organisations delivering comparable services and gain a more granular picture of how they are tracking than they get from the broader NDIA Financial Benchmarking Survey.

On this page:

• About the survey
• Why participate?
• How to participate?
• Webinar
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Enquiries

StewartBrown Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey

NDS and StewartBrown are proud to partner for the StewartBrown Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey. The survey is a great opportunity for disability service providers, giving them quarterly reports at both a whole of organisation level and individual service level that lets them track their financial performance in the sector while giving privileged insights into sector trends. These reports are designed to assist providers with financial, strategic and operational business decisions. We invite all NDS members to subscribe to this valuable financial benchmarking survey. 

Using proven systems and processes established in StewartBrown’s renowned Aged Care Financial Performance Survey, the survey collects quarterly financial performance, equity and staffing data from participants and delivers a report that gives them the ability to benchmark their data at an organisational level and across different service types. 

As well as whole-of-organisation benchmarking, a provider’s disability services are benchmarked for:  

• SIL and SDA services  
• Daily Living (Non-SIL) 
• Social and Community Participation  
• Allied Health (Therapy Supports)  
• Supported Employment Services  
• Support Coordination. 

Each quarterly survey report has detailed analysis of trends, succinct summary tables and clear graphs. It is tailored for each disability service, comparing results against various benchmarks. The tailored reports compare provider’s service level results against the average and top 25 per cent of services. 

Providers also have privileged access to special services on the StewartBrown secure website. 

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Why participate?  

Benchmarking brings an external focus to internal activities. You gain an independent perspective about how you perform compared to other service providers and the sector. This knowledge allows you to understand key drivers, develop baselines, define best practices, identify positive differences as well as improvement opportunities, and report and monitor key performance measures. 

Key benefits include: 

• insights into sector trends 
• the chance to initiate and underpin continuous improvement 
• the use of hard data to identify performance initiatives at an organisational or service level 
• the strengthening of organisational sustainability 
• the ability to inform, verify and validate business strategy 
• access to the StewartBrown professional analyst team 
• individualised Board and Executive presentations about the survey results. 

Furthermore, the survey will provide evidence-based, objective analysis and accurate data on sector trends, which may be used by key stakeholders in the sector for advocacy. 

StewartBrown’s role is that of an independent third party to collect, cleanse, analyse and report the data.  

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How to participate?  

Providers pay an annual subscription, which is based on the operating size of the organisation. The pricing guide is set out in the registration kit (link below). As a benefit for joining in the initial Survey, the one-off joining fee will be waived. For the financial year 2022–23, the pricing will be pro-rata based on two surveys (June 2022 and June 2023).   

The registration kit has details on the service, including terms and conditions of participation, the roles and obligations of StewartBrown and your organisation, survey timetable, and the pricing of services. The kit also contains an application form to provide StewartBrown with the details of the services to include in the survey, as well as your contact information.  

Download the Registration Kit 2023 on the StewartBrown website 

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Webinar 

Last year, StewartBrown presented the survey at several NDS events, so you may already be aware of the benefits. However, if you missed it, you can view the recent recorded webinar session on the Financial Benchmarking Survey:

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Frequently Asked Questions 

• Who is StewartBrown?
• What is StewartBrown’s experience in the sector?
• How can I be sure this new Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey will work as you say it will?
• Will my organisation’s data be kept private and secure?
• Does the StewartBrown Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey replace the NDIA TTP benchmarking survey and will any data be relied on by NDIA to inform their cost model?

Who is StewartBrown?  

StewartBrown is a chartered accountancy firm established in 1939. 

With nine Partners and over ninety employees, they provide audit, consulting, business services, taxation, financial planning, financial analysis, and benchmarking services and are experienced in delivering these to community organisations across Australia. 

What is StewartBrown’s experience in the sector?  

StewartBrown has significant experience in the aged, community and disability care sectors. They currently provide audit, assurance, consulting and accounting support services to many disability service providers. 

They help organisations to understand and respond to areas of opportunity or risk and improve the financial performance of their business. They understand the delicate balance between delivering quality care and services while remaining profitable and sustainable. They can help organisations achieve more efficient outcomes and improve service delivery. 

They are experienced benchmarking experts.  

How can I be sure this new Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey will work as you say it will?   

The Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey uses proven systems and processes already established in StewartBrown’s renowned Aged Care Financial Performance Survey. The Aged Care Financial Performance Survey is the largest and most highly regarded financial benchmark in the health and aged care sector, with quarterly participation comprising over 330 organisations, in excess of 1300 residential aged care homes and over 70,000 home care packages. 

Will my organisation’s data be kept private and secure? 

StewartBrown will be collecting financial data from organisations with the purpose of providing benchmarks and other summary reports to participants and industry bodies. They will not be collecting personal information, but rather corporate data and as such are not bound by the National Privacy Principles or the Privacy Act 1998. They will however still be abiding by the National Privacy Principles with respect to the data and other information collected, because they are committed to the highest level of privacy over the information collected. In accordance with these principles: 

(a) No report received by a survey participant will identify other survey participants by name. In general, all comparative information will be in aggregate format; that is, it will be an average all participating organisations. 

(b) Any information provided to third parties such as industry groups will only be in aggregate format and can only be used for the purpose of policy development or lobbying Government agencies. 

(c) Only data and other information necessary to produce the survey will be collected from participants. 

(d) All information collected will be stored in a secure manner. Data is received and processed by the StewartBrown team in Australia (we do not outsource). The benchmark data and website are hosted by StewartBrown. 

(e) Where information is shared between participating organisations as a result of contact being facilitated by StewartBrown, such sharing will be done on the understanding that the terms and conditions relating to Privacy and confidentiality are adhered to by the parties involved. 

Does the StewartBrown Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey replace the NDIA TTP benchmarking survey and will any data be relied on by NDIA to inform their cost model? 

The StewartBrown Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey (DSFBS) is an independent quarterly (from FY24) Survey and is distinct from the NDIA TTP benchmarking survey. 

The StewartBrown Survey is primarily for the benefit of disability services providers in reviewing their financial performance and strategic direction on an individual service (support type) basis. This granular service level data collection and analysis is a key difference to the NDIA Financial Benchmarking Survey. A secondary benefit is that overtime the aggregate of the data will provide a significant level of trend data and detailed analysis. 

In accordance with the terms and conditions only survey participants will be able to access their individual survey reports. 

StewartBrown will publish a sector report which generally examines the sector at an aggregate level, by state and by region. These sector reports look at trends and emerging issues that the data is showing us. NDIA, like any other organisation or person, will be able to access these sector reports as they are made publicly available. 

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Enquiries 

If you have any questions about the StewartBrown Disability Services Financial Benchmarking Survey, please do not hesitate to contact Steven Toner on (02) 9412 3033 or email: disability.benchmark@stewartbrown.com.au.   

Please note: Requests for Auslan interpreters and captioners must be made 48 hours prior to the event.