Cape government departments and public entities
22 October 2007
Kimberley: Auditor-General (AG) Terence Nombembe today briefed the Northern
Cape legislature on the province's audit outcomes and trends for the 2006/07
financial year and raised his concern over the level of financial management in
government departments and public entities.
The purpose of the AG's analysis, a comprehensive assessment of the state of
financial and performance information in the public sector, is to provide an
overview of the audit outcomes at provincial department and public entity
level. Nombembe has embarked on a countrywide road show presenting his overview
of the national and provincial government audits to the various legislatures
and the national Parliament. The emphasis will be on what underpins the audit
results of government departments in the 2006/07 financial year.
According to the information available at the time of our analysis, the
Northern Cape government comprised of 13 departments and five public entities
of which the audit report of one public entity was being finalised at the time
of our analysis.
Overview of audit opinions
Of the 13 provincial departments, eight (61%) departments received a
qualified audit opinion, while the reports of another five (39%) departments
that received an unqualified financial opinion had concerns raised on other
matters. The provincial departments with financial qualifications are Economic
Affairs, Education, Health, Office of the Premier, Provincial Treasury, Safety
and Liaison, Sports, Arts and Culture and Transport, Roads and Public Works. On
the other hand the five (39%) departments that were unqualified financially,
but had concerns in areas of internal control, governance and legislative
non-compliance are Agriculture and Land Reform, Housing and Local Government,
Provincial Legislature, Social Services and Population Development and Tourism,
Environment and Conservation.
Of the four public entities included in our analysis, three (75%) received a
qualified audit opinion, while one (25%) that received an unqualified financial
opinion had concerns raised on other matters. The public entities with
financial qualifications are the McGregor Museum; the Northern Cape Arts and
Culture Council and Northern Cape Premier Education Trust Fund. On the other
hand, the one public entity that was unqualified financially, but had concerns
in areas of internal control, governance and legislative non-compliance is the
Road Capital Account.
Says Nombembe: "We have tailor-made our audit reports and systems to track
and identify root causes of problem areas in all departments. We also make
recommendations of how departments can improve their governance and financial
control systems. We have embarked on these legislature briefings with the
belief that our analyses will help guide both the legislators and management to
improve their internal control weaknesses.
Most of these problems are basic internal control compliance issues that
require effective monitoring by the leadership so that they could be solved
immediately, while management is sorting out structural internal control issues
that seem to be confined provincially to asset management and a few departments
that have challenges beyond asset management.
"The critical message we are leaving with the legislators and the executive
during our briefings is that it is possible to obtain an unqualified audit
report if the basics in control systems are in place and constantly monitored
by the leadership." Nombembe will present his overall findings on local
government during May 2008.
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
22 October 2007
