All Gauteng Departments attain unqualified audit opinion - a first in 13 years for the province
24 August 2016
All 12 Gauteng Provincial Departments and public entities have received unqualified audit status in the 2015/2016 financial year.
This is the best performance recorded by the province in 13 years, and serves as an
indication that our province is well on track towards achieving its goal of establishing credible financial control systems and ultimately realising 100 percent clean audits.
Seven (7) Provincial Departments achieved clean audits, namely:
- Premier’s Office
- Legislature
- COGTA
- Provincial Treasury
- Social Development
- Economic Development
- E-Government
Seven (7) Provincial Departments achieved unqualified opinions, namely:
- Education
- Community Safety
- Roads and Transport
- Infrastructure Development
- Agriculture and Rural Development
- Health
- Human Settlement
Thirteen (13) public entities achieved clean audits:
- Dinokeng
- Gauteng Film Commission
- Gautrain Management Agency
- Gauteng Partnership Fund
- IDZ Development Company
- Constitutional Hill Precinct
- Innovation Hub
- Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site
- Gauteng Tourism Authority
- Gauteng Gambling Board
- Supplier Park Development Company
- Gauteng Growth and Development Agency
- Cost Recovery
Six (6) public entities achieved unqualified audit opinions:
- Greater Newtown Development Company
- Gauteng Liquor Board
- Gauteng Enterprise Propeller
- MEDSAS
- Gauteng Housing Fund
- G-Fleet
NB: A clean audit is achieved based on the following three factors:
- The financial statements are free from material misstatements;
- There are no findings on the annual performance report; and
- There are no material findings on compliance with key laws and regulations.
The Department of Health improved from qualified to unqualified audit status. This improvement can be attributed to the Department putting in place a strategic intervention plan on all previous audit outcomes, in particular revenue management, to address the findings of the previous financial years and these plans were rolled out in all health institutions.
The Department also strengthened the functioning of its governance structures with regards to Risk Management and Integrity Management and rolled these out at the institutional level and coupled this with a strong political will to succeed.
Our decisive interventions to address challenges at G-Fleet, the agency of the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, led to this public entity moving from a disclaimer last year to achieving an unqualified audit status in this audit cycle.
We welcome the Auditor General’s Report and we are encouraged by the improvements that were noted by the Report.
I wish to commend all Departments for their ongoing efforts to improve management of public finances and taking corrective action to address poor performance. At the same time I wish to remind all MECs and Accounting Officers that our ultimate goal remains 100% clean audit.
We will continue to work closely with Departments to ensure compliance with procurement rules and regulations, conduct extensive reviews of monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements, address recurring audit findings and provide targeted financial reporting training as part of a broader intervention to eliminate material amendments to the annual financial statements.
Although we have improved significantly, I remain concerned about irregular expenditure and that some departments are not paying service providers within 30 days.
The Open Tender System which is being rolled out in all will assist us eliminate irregular expenditure and enforce compliance with supply chain regulations.
We are also tackling delay in the payment of service providers through the Cutting Red Tape Task Team led by MEC Paul Mashatile. Our target is 15 days.
These audit outcomes show that we have done a lot since 2014 to move towards a clean government that is transparent and accountable to the people. It is for this reason that we will not rest until all our departments and entities ultimately realise 100 percent clean audits.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
(1) Unqualified Opinion - indicates the auditor’s endorsement of the accuracy and adequacy of the disclosed information and of the department’s financial picture as presented.
(2) Qualified Opinion - may indicate a limited scope of examination, or that the auditor was unable to directly verify certain information.
(3) Adverse Opinion - indicates serious problems with the audit, and can be very damaging in its effect on the department’s reputation and financial position.
Statement issued by the Gauteng Provincial Government, 24 August 2016
