Pretoria - Over 4 000 officials have been trained on the municipal Standard Chart of Accounts (mSCOA) to improve capacity and financial management in municipalities.
The countrywide rollout of training on mSCOA is undertaken by National Treasury in collaboration with the Institute for Municipal Finance Officers (IMFO).
The training, according to Treasury, has improved the ability of municipal councillors and managers to make decisions.
“The implementation of mSCOA will result in the consistent application of the municipal accountability cycle from planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and reporting, and ultimately improved service delivery,” Treasury said on Wednesday.
Treasury said mSCOA is part of the ongoing budget and reporting reforms aimed at improving financial reporting.
With effect from 1 July 2017, all municipalities will have to capture all their financial transactions against a predefined classification framework, which will result in uniformity of line items in terms of revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities.
The reforms are aimed at improving governance, accountability, transparency and the management of public funds. They also address financial and system shortcomings by streamlining business processes to support improved service delivery outcomes.
However, Treasury acknowledges that the implementation of mSCOA will not fix historic information but will improve the integrity and credibility of information through its validation principles. – SAnews.gov.za
