Second year running: Western Cape achieved 100% clean audits

[OrbitalDawn]

http://www.biznews.com/briefs/2016/...witter&utm_term=Autofeed#link_time=1479301296

The Western Cape Government has again achieved 100% unqualified audits, for all provincial departments, for the second year running. These outcomes affirm the province’s position as a leader in clean governance, and service delivery.

A total of 11 clean audits were achieved, with the Western Cape Department of Health becoming the only department in its sector nationally, to receive an unqualified audit.

AG Kimi Makwetu released the 2015/16 Audit Outcomes at a press conference earlier today.

Referring to the management in the province, Mr Makwetu said “the drivers of key controls for the year indicate … stability in leadership roles and established policies, procedures and processes”.

Observing some of the best practices, Mr Makwetu said the provincial government has implemented “good human resource management” which “ensured stability at senior management level, the availability of adequately and sufficiently skilled resources (specifically within finance units), and the regular monitoring of the performance of officials”.

The Auditor-General also noted that the province’s executive leadership had met commitments made in the previous year relating to “monitoring and implementation of the corporate governance and review outlook (CGRO) process”.

 

[R13...]

I know it's a start but using the AG report as indication of clean governance can be misleading. It just means those found to come short in audits are either clumsy or don't care who finds about their dodgy procurement practices. You can run a 100% corrupt department all the while achieving clean audits outcomes if you do it right.

 

[Former member 61586]

Am not a DA fan by any means. And AG audit finding are not something to write home about as they MISS lots of stuff.

But the DA getting all provincial departments to a clean audit is still very damn impressive nonetheless.

 

[xrapidx]

Yip...not a fan either, but I'm sure they'll do a better job than the ANC, just not looking forward to having to register all the plants in my garden, and the times I shower, and, and, and....

 

[Pilgrim]

While I agree that AG audits might not be the "be all and end all" it is a bloody good start. If you cannot even pass your audits then how on earth can you expect to deliver any kind of basic service?

Fundamentals, get them right and the rest can follow. Without them you cannot improve much in my opinion.

Great DA, keep up to good work!

 

[Eskimos]

While I agree that AG audits might not be the "be all and end all" it is a bloody good start. If you cannot even pass your audits then how on earth can you expect to deliver any kind of basic service?

Fundamentals, get them right and the rest can follow. Without them you cannot improve much in my opinion.

Great DA, keep up to good work!

I'd agree with this. Having assisted with and reviewed AG audits; its really only the basics (that a reasonable person would expect) that an entity needs to comply with the get a 'clean' audit. So while it isn't groundbreaking, its fantastic to see that at least the WC (and the DA of course)is getting it right in having a solid foundation for its provincial departments.

 

[Tikkop]

I know it's a start but using the AG report as indication of clean governance can be misleading. It just means those found to come short in audits are either clumsy or don't care who finds about their dodgy procurement practices. You can run a 100% corrupt department all the while achieving clean audits outcomes if you do it right.

I don't fully agree with this. An auditor that does his job properly can easily find out corrupt or fraudulent activities. Per law, the auditor can have access to all financial and related material material and information to base his opinion. So, if the auditor is impeded in any way, it could lead to a qualified opinion or worse.

In saying that, it is possible to hide info and create false audit trails to mask corruption. But it would be very difficult.

The reason why corruption happens and are flourishing is because the auditors themselves are corrupt. Arthur Andersen for example.

That is why people just role their eyes when IRBA and SAICA brag about SA being number 1 in the world in auditing and corporate governance. (What good is that if SA is also one of the most corrupt countries in the world?).

 

[ngwe23]

Impressive stuff from the DA. Which is sad if you think about it because this should be the norm and not the rarity that it is.

 

[SoTrue]

I know it's a start but using the AG report as indication of clean governance can be misleading. It just means those found to come short in audits are either clumsy or don't care who finds about their dodgy procurement practices. You can run a 100% corrupt department all the while achieving clean audits outcomes if you do it right.

You clearly don't know what you are talking about. 100% corrupt department means that all transaction are fraudulent? There is no way that you can hide so many fraudulent transactions.

 

[Noseworthy]

DA 2019.

+1

 

[R13...]

You clearly don't know what you are talking about. 100% corrupt department means that all transaction are fraudulent? There is no way that you can hide so many fraudulent transactions.

What I mean is that you could theoretically have a 1000 proxies bidding for nearly all the work put out to tender. Seeing as you are in the systems and know the tender scoring systems and requirements you could always set it up so that one of these proxies always gets the work. It'd take deep forensic analysis to pick up something like that as on the surface in an audit it'd look like you're following proper SCM. You'd have docs and everything. Yes it wouldn't be easy as you'd need to co-opt a lot of others who'd want a piece of the action and I think in many places that is already happening.