requesting financial information from the EC

Hi lacie,
You can ask but you may not receive.
Most of the information you want can be accessed by you, as an owner, by making a request under s108 of the SSMA (Strata Schemes Management Act) if the Owners Corporation (OC) will not freely give the information.
The fee is $30 for the first hour and $15 for every half hour there after, and you should put in your written request specifics about what you want to inspect. Note the OC is under no obligation to give you copies of anything but cannot stop you from making your own copy during an inspection.

You should also keep in mind that information obtained for legal purposes may or may not be made available to you. There is client privileged for some material.
From a Teys Training note comes the following “The executive committee also needs to ensure that key documents relating to the litigation are kept separate and not circulated as part as general meeting papers. This is
to ensure that privilege is maintained from any inadvertent disclosure later on in the litigation.” Be aware of that as some legal material should be withheld to maintain privilege.

Most people have never used s108 to seek information but do not let inexperience put you off. Read section 108 below and give it a go if you really want the information and the OC will not give it freely.
Receipts are records and documents the OC is obliged to keep for a specified period and so are accounts of the sinking fund and administration fund. You should ask to see the administration fund account and sinking fund account transactions for the period you wish to know about.

Sometimes finding out what you want to know can be difficult but don’t let that put you off if your OC is dysfunctional and bleeding money.

If you have any questions then i am sure the forum will help

Section 108

108   Inspection of records of owners corporation

(1) Who may inspect records?
An owner, mortgagee or covenant chargee of a lot, or a person authorised by the owner, mortgagee or covenant chargee, may request the owners corporation to allow an inspection to be carried out under this section.

(2) Form of request
The request must be in writing and be accompanied by the fee prescribed by the regulations.

(3) Items to be made available for inspection
The owners corporation must make the following items available for inspection by the person who makes the request or the person’s agent:

(a)  the strata roll,

(b)  any records or documents required to be kept under Division 2,

(c)  the plans, specifications, certificates, diagrams and other documents required to be delivered to the owners corporation at its first annual general meeting by the original owner or lessor,

(d)  if in its custody or under its control, the certificate of title comprising the common property or, in the case of a leasehold strata scheme, the certificate of title for the lease of the common property,

(e)  the last financial statements prepared,

(f)  every current policy of insurance taken out by the owners corporation and the receipt for the premium last paid for each such policy,

(g)  any other record or document in the custody or under the control of the owners corporation,

(h)  if the duties of the owners corporation under this subsection have been delegated to a strata managing agent, such other records (including records of the strata managing agent) relating to the strata scheme as may be prescribed by the regulations,

(i)  if a caretaker agreement is in force or has been entered into but has not yet commenced, a copy of the caretaker agreement.

Maximum penalty: 2 penalty units.

(4) Inspection to take place at agreed place and time
The inspection is to take place at such time and place as may be agreed on and, failing agreement, at the parcel at a time and on a date fixed by the owners corporation under subsection (5).

(5) Time and place of inspection if agreement not reached
If an applicant and the owners corporation fail to reach an agreement within 3 days after the owners corporation receives the application, the owners corporation must immediately send by post to the applicant a notice fixing a specified time (between 9 am and 8 pm) on a specified date (not later than 10 days after the owners corporation receives the application).

(6) Copies of documents may be taken
A person entitled to inspect a document under this section may take extracts from, or make a copy of, the document but must not, without the consent of the owners corporation, remove the document from the custody of the owners corporation.

Whether or not an Executive Committee has a 'duty of care' is something that would need to be established by legal precedent.  However, under NSW law, the EC and/ or Owners Corporation has no obligation to enforce by-laws (except where the pertain to their legal obligations under the Strata Act, for instance, to maintain common property).

However, any owner or tenant can take action through Fair Trading and the CTTT to have by-laws enforced.