Public sector uses unqualified audit reports to mask financial failures, notes AG

Auditor-General Tsakane Maluleke said unqualified reports are being used to mask deeper financial failures in the public sector.

She added that unqualified audits are not a benchmark and only show that financial statements filed with her office are correct.

Maluleke said this does not demonstrate improvements in financial management, but not worth celebrating, as it is currently the case.

On Thursday, she presented audit outcomes for the last financial year, which show long-term stagnation with 13 entities stuck in the unqualified category for a decade.

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Only 151 government entities received unqualified audits out of 417, which represents 36% of the total number of audited entities that look after only 12% of the budget.

Maluleke noted that 266 departments and entities responsible for 88% of the budget have not received clean audits.

“There's a culture within the public service where accounting officers don’t have the wherewithal to manage staff and to manage suppliers, and that we must question the executive authority on the tone the expectation that they are offering the accounting officer.”