AG gives clean audit

WHILE the Western Cape Education Department was awarded its fourth consecutive clean audit during the 2017/18 financial year, it was not without criticism from the auditor-general (AG).

One of the AG’s criticisms was that department management “did not have appropriate record-keeping processes in place to ensure that performance information was supported by credible evidence.”

The AG yesterday briefed the legislature’s public accounts committee on the audit outcomes for the 2018/19 financial year.

His criticism was seized upon by the opposition, with the ANC’s Khalid Sayed saying: “The AG reported that the reviewing and monitoring controls implemented by the management to ensure that the annual performance report was accurate and complete, in compliance with the reporting framework, were not adequate, as internal review procedures did not identify and correct material misstatements.”

The department’s internal audit committee expressed concerns regarding the slow progress in implementing agreed action plans.

The department spent 99.83% of the adjusted budget for 2018/19.

The under-expenditure amounted to R37.346 million, or 0.17% of the adjusted budget, which is within the national benchmark of 2%.

Meanwhile, the department lost over R5.9m in debts written off, and was still investigating cases of irregular expenditure amounting to R4.178m.

Department accounting officer Brian Schreuder said: “The undercollection on departmental receipts for 2018/19 is R3.292m and is mainly attributed to the fact that fewer debts impacting on revenue were written off.”