JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Auditor-General, Kimi Makwetu, today released the audit results of the country’s consolidated audit outcomes of national and provincial governments and their entities for the 2017-18 financial year.
Makwetu said during the audits, three areas were examined, including fair presentation and absence of material misstatements in financial statements, reliable and credible performance information and compliance with all legislation governing financial matters.
Makwetu said, "Overall, the audit outcomes regressed – at both departments and public entities. We are now sitting at R 2 billion overall in unauthorised expenditure."
Unauthorised expenditure increased by 38% from the previous year to R2,1 billion – 86% thereof as a result of overspending. #AGReport pic.twitter.com/KrUp3sIXoZ
— Auditor-General SA (@AuditorGen_SA) November 21, 2018
Fruitless and wasteful expenditure increased by over 200% from the previous year to R2,5 billion. This expenditure, which is effectively money lost. #AGReport pic.twitter.com/Na1xjdYiSF
— Auditor-General SA (@AuditorGen_SA) November 21, 2018
Overall, the audit outcomes regressed – at both departments and public entities. #AGReport pic.twitter.com/xzXn5ZPysY
— Auditor-General SA (@AuditorGen_SA) November 21, 2018
Makwetu emphasised during his briefing that the financial health of the provincial departments of health and education needed urgent intervention to prevent the collapse of -these key service delivery departments.
The financial health of the provincial departments of health and education needs urgent intervention to prevent the collapse of these key service delivery departments. #AGReport pic.twitter.com/ojOcXTQPwD
— Auditor-General SA (@AuditorGen_SA) November 21, 2018
He said that provincial health departments in the Eastern Cape, Free State and the Northern Caoe required urgent intervention. Makwetu went on to say that TVET colleges continued to struggle to account for their finances. Makwetu said, "For instance, of the 48 colleges audited by the AGSA, only three received clean audits, compared to nine in the previous year. Questions should be asked about the potential loss of money through the poor management of assets, revenue and debtors at these colleges at a time when funding is desperately needed for tertiary education."
The Auditor - General also said that the IDT received a disclaimed opinion for the third year in a row and the SABC regressed from an adverse opinion to a disclaimed opinion. Only the DBSA – which was audited by the AGSA for the first time – obtained a clean audit opinion.
Below are the outstanding audit outcomes of State - Owned Enterprises in SA:
Outstanding audit outcomes in SOEs #AGReport pic.twitter.com/703uWaW8Cf
— Auditor-General SA (@AuditorGen_SA) November 21, 2018
"At national level there was a regression in audit outcomes, with the number of clean audits decreasing to 23 % of the total audited population. Audit outcomes of 43 auditees improved, however they are overshadowed by the 73 that regressed from the previous year," the Auditor General said during his presentation.
Releasing his general report for 2017-18, Auditor General Kimi Makwetu said that overall, the audit outcomes regressed – at both departments and public entities #AGReport pic.twitter.com/bInMHaudhB
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) November 21, 2018
Catch the #AGReport post tabling media briefing broadcast via Facebook Live (The Auditor-General of South Africa) from 11AM today (21 November 2018) or follow #AGReport and @AuditorGen_SA on Twitter to get the latest in national and provincial audit outcomes. pic.twitter.com/w7lWBfUCx8
— Auditor-General SA (@AuditorGen_SA) November 21, 2018
He added that in 2019, the Auditor - General's office will be releasing reports focused on some of the key government programs such as education and infrastructure.
"The quality of the performance reports slightly improved to 65% of the auditees now publishing credible reports. However, the AGSA received performance reports for auditing with substantial misstatements. Departments of education, health and public works continued to have the poorest results of all – 33% of these departments received qualified opinions (compared to only 16% of the other departments). Only two of the departments received clean audit opinions," Makwetu said.
Makwetu also announced that the PAA amendment bill has been signed into law by the President.
Here is how the Public Audit Act has evolved over the years:
AG Kimi Makwetu announces that the PAA amendment bill has been signed into law by the President. Here is how the Public Audit Act has evolved over the years. #AGReport pic.twitter.com/QXdPYd0YVW
— Auditor-General SA (@AuditorGen_SA) November 21, 2018