impact of its audit reports
18 April 2007
The office of the Auditor-General (AG), South Africa's supreme audit
institution, is holding its annual senior management review conference in
Bloemfontein. The annual bosberaad is aimed at constantly improving the
organisation's operations and reviewing policies to help meet the AG's mandate
as the country's supreme audit institution.
The three-day workshop will be opened by Parliamentary Standing Committee on
Auditor-General (ScoAG) chairperson, Barbara Hogan. This year the AG's senior
management will deliberate on the relevance and impact of the organisation's
audit reports. Mandated by the Constitution, the AG is responsible for the
auditing of national and provincial state departments and administrations, all
municipalities and any other institution or accounting entity required by
national and provincial legislation to be audited by the AG. Its purpose is to
promote public accountability and governance in all spheres of government. As
an independent organisation, the AG is accountable only to Parliament. The AG
audits about 826 entities and issues close to 1 000 reports.
Says Africa Boso, Auditor-General spokesperson: "Public sector audits go
beyond merely expressing an opinion on the financial statements. When we audit
the public sector, we also comment on the effectiveness of key management
processes and give feedback on compliance with laws and regulations. Our
challenge is to continue being sharper.
"We want to identify the impact of the findings of our reports on the
departments and entities we audit. We are constantly trying to elicit the root
causes of the issues we pick up during our audits and in that way assist
officials to improve their efficiencies. We clarify what the underlying causes
are, not just symptoms. That is the main focus of this year's bosberaad,
looking at improving the relevance of our audit reports with emphasis on
easy-to-understand reports that will help add value to and impact positively on
the way auditees conduct their management processes and help empower
legislators and taxpayers to understand the impact of audit reports on the
country's economy."
Enquiries:
Africa Boso
Media Liaison: Auditor-General of South Africa
Tel: (012) 426 8273
Cell: 082 889 9527
E-mail: africab@agsa.co.za
Issued by: Auditor-General South Africa
18 April 2007
