The Auditor General of South Africa (AG) has given the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality yet another unqualified audit opinion. This is an indication that Ekurhuleni has sound financial management systems and processes in place that lead to accurate accountability for all financial transactions in the metro.
This does however not mean that there were no fraud or corruption, but it is an indication that systems are in place to expose and reduce these undesired activities.
The Auditor General has given Ekurhuleni the thumbs-up for being on the right track. There have been various challenges in the finance department, notwithstanding all these challenges Ekurhuleni has managed to achieve this prestigious result and maintained unqualified financial audit opinions over the past five financial years (2008/09 to 2012/13).
Financial management is prudent in our city, and the leadership in Finance is placing Ekurhuleni on the top of the log when it comes to sound financial administration. The unqualified audit opinion came with some “audit findings”, expressing that outcomes have been raised on the organisation’s annual performance report and non-compliance with legislation.
The AG’s report includes areas of concern that have been highlighted, and improvement is required in procurement management, human resource management, and irregular expenditure.
The finance oversight committee is pushing for a clean audit, and these concerns of the AG will be addressed in this financial year.
The Executive and officials have established an Operation Clean Audit Committee (OPCA), that will oversee this key deliverable by the Metro.
The leadership of finance in Ekurhuleni will review and monitor the implementation of corrective measures on recommendations of the AG to ensure that such audit findings are not repeated in the next audit.
An unqualified opinion is the highest level of audit opinion on sound financial results that can be achieved in local government, and as a result, Ekurhuleni achieved an impressive audit result.
Together we move Ekurhuleni forward to a clean audit in 2014.
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