Pretoria - The State Owned Entities Communicators Association (SOECA) has sent its congratulations to all the public sector entities that have achieved unqualified audits in the past financial year.
"The annual audit of state owned entities by the Auditor General is a vital cog in the regulatory framework that governs financial management, budgeting and reporting in the public sector.
“Critically, these audits and the publishing of their results give practical expression to the notion of accountability and transparency. As an association, we commend those SOEs that have done well with their annual results and demonstrated prudence and probity in their handling of public resources," SOECA President Congress Mahlangu said on Thursday.
Although the consolidated general report on audit outcomes of public entities was not yet available as this is usually presented by the Auditor General later in the year, the picture emerging was encouraging, the association said.
The tabling of annual reports in Parliament by government agencies and departments has recently commenced and SOECA encouraged its members to use these in order to highlight the achievements of their organizations.
"By their nature, annual reports are read by a few people and limited numbers are printed. It is important that SOE communicators take the information contained in these reports and communicate it as widely as possible. After all, these entities belong to citizens and we should never lose sight of that," Mahlangu said.
He also urged members of the public to access and read the annual reports online, where possible, so that they can increase their understanding of the SOE sector and be in a position to hold the entities accountable.
The association held its meeting at Eskom head office on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by representatives from National Development Agency, South African Airways, Land Bank, Brand South Africa, SABC, Sars, South African National Parks, SANRAL, National Agricultural Marketing Council, TCTA, Safcol and the Road Accident Fund, among others.
SOECA is a voluntary association of marketers and communicators of state owned entities from across all three spheres of government. – SANews.gov.za
