The ACT Labor Party has been issued a formal warning after repeatedly submitting inconsistent annual returns with discrepancies of more than $258,000.
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The ACT Electoral Commission found significant variations between the party's initial annual return and adjustments made after an internal audit.
The party's initial disclosure showed an annual return of $661,282 but this was revised on three occasions to $920,056 once additional receipts were accounted for.
ACT Electoral Commissioner Phillip Green said on Friday the mistakes were not intentional but the scale of the discrepancy and errors warranted an official warning.
Mr Green said the party submitted incomplete returns to meet the commission's deadline and revised statements in coming months, as other parties had done on a smaller scale.
The commission launched a compliance review in November to determine the cause of the errors.
"The party raised a number of issues related to the party's financial reporting processes that contributed to the reporting of differing amounts," an AEC statement said.
These issues included the departure of the party's bookkeeper, a loss of corporate memory and the reconciliation of financial records across different accounts.
Mr Green said he was satisfied the party had resolved its accounts and amended any errors.
"It is important they get their annual reports correct and they really should be getting this right the first time," Mr Green said.
It is an offence under the Electoral ACT to submit an incomplete return although the commission has ruled out any further action.
"We looked at the past compliance history of ACT Labor and how much cooperation they had showed and their commitment to getting this right," he said.
"We don't think there is any indication they did this intentional or to deliberately avoid disclosing their returns."
Mr Green said the party had assured him returns would be lodged as accurately as possible in future years.
ACT Labor branch secretary Matthew Byrne said the errors were due to a change of accountants and steps had been taken to improve performance.
"This has improved the party's ability to ensure that its accounting processes line up as best as possible with the Electoral Commissions," he said.
Mr Byrne said the party had little choice but to submit an incomplete return to the commission.
"As the ALP had not received its final audited accounts before the due date of the return, the party had to submit amended returns with updated information," he said.
"The ALP received a warning from the commission due to the need to update and provide information to the commission after the deadline."
Mr Byrne said the party supported the commission as an independent body tasked with monitoring the finances of political parties.
"The ALP has always endeavoured to work constructively and positively with the electoral commission and that remains the case as we head towards the ACT election."
