Pretoria - Government has welcomed the Auditor-General’s 2014/15 financial year audit results, said the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) on Thursday.
This comes as Auditor-General (AG) Kimi Makwetu released the audit outcomes on Wednesday, which reflected a slight improvement in national and provincial departments and their entities.
“Government welcomes the 2014/15 financial year audit results released yesterday by the AG. The outcome shows a general improvement from the 2013/14 financial year audit results, especially from the national departments,” said the GCIS.
The AG’s report states that out of the 468 audits, which include 167 national and provincial departments and 301 entities, a general improvement was noted in the audit outcomes.
A total of 131 national departments and provincial departments received an unqualified audit opinion with no findings (clean audits). This is an increase from 118 in the 2013/14 financial year.
A total of 11 national departments contributed to the unqualified opinion with no findings. These are the Presidency, Statistics South Africa, Public Service Commission, GCIS and the Departments of Science and Technology; Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME); Sports and Recreation; Energy; Environmental Affairs; Social Development, and Trade and Industry. About 70% of these departments maintained their previous year’s clean audit results.
The AG commended the downward trend in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Makwetu said over 80% of these findings were declared by the departments themselves, which is a step in the right direction.
The GCIS said these results clearly reflect a commitment on the part of government to remain accountable.
“Government also agrees with the AG that more work still needs to be done, especially to support those departments that are struggling to improve their audit results.”
The GCIS said government remains committed to continue working towards improving accountability within the public service.
Acting Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said: “The President has set up the DPME, which is currently being strengthened to ensure government delivers on its mandate and can be held accountable.
“Working with National Treasury and the Department of Public Service and Administration, the DPME will continue to support all the departments, particularly those that are still struggling.
“It is equally important for accounting officers of respective departments to put consequence management in place to ensure people with the right skills are employed in order to address issues raised by the AG.
“Government would also like to congratulate the departments that are working tirelessly to achieve clean audits and account for the public purse. Government remains committed to following up on issues raised by the AG.” - SAnews.gov.za
