The role of the AGSA in strengthening parliamentary oversight on the budget

17 August 2016

Reputation promise/mission

The Auditor-General of South Africa has a constitutional mandate and,

as the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of South Africa, exists to strengthen our

country’s democracy by enabling oversight, accountability and governance in the

public sector through auditing, thereby building public confidence.

Outline of the presentation

• Background

• AGSA Audit Process

• AGSA value-add in PAC oversight

• AGSA value add in PC oversight

• The Open Budget Survey 2015

• Conclusion

Background

• UN General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s)

• The SDG’s represent the general desires of citizens of every country in the world.

• For governments to make this fulfilment of SDG’s a reality, prudent spending of

available public funds is required.

• Parliaments as institution charged with representing the interests of citizens,

should play an active role in influence how the government budgets and spends

public funds.

• Traditionally, parliaments have managed to exercise oversight on government

spending of public funds at the tail-end

• The tracking of SDG’s further necessitates that parliaments enhance their

capability to participate fully in the budget process

• This would therefore increase their ability to influence government priorities and

therefore meeting the needs of the citizens

Areas of critical expenditure & oversight

AGSA Audit Process

Fair representation of financial statements

Compliance with key legislation

Usefulness and reliability of performance reporting

Key Focus Areas

o Quality of submitted financial statements

o Quality of submitted performance reports

o Human Resources (Vacancies in top positions)

o Supply Chain Management (Compliance with legislation, UIFW expenditure, etc)

o IT controls (information security, credibility of information, etc)

o Financial health (ability of auditee to continue to offering the required services)

With insights from the above Parliament through its committees is able to conduct oversight thereby influencing positive utilisation of public funds

End result

AGSA’s value-add in Public Accounts Oversight (PACs)

PAC work process: stages & steps AGSA support

PLANNINGo Strategic planning

o Attend PAC’s strategic planning sessions o Prioritisation of audit reports

o Setting work programme o Provide written expert commentary if necessary

INFORMATION

GATHERING &

INVESTIGATIONS

o Preliminary questions o Give the PAC a comprehensive briefing on audit

findingso Briefings

o Public hearings o Attend public hearings as an expert witness

REPORTINGo Development of PAC report o Validate the PACs positioning of the audit

outcomes in the report

FOLLOW-UP

o Review of government

responses

o Evaluate government responses and advise the

PAC on its adequacy in addressing audit queries

o Follow-up on

recommendations

o Monitor & report on government’s action on

PAC recommendations

PERFORMANCE

REVIEW

o Review of the PAC’s

performance against set

strategic goals & objectives

o Encourage the PAC to review its performance &

recommend a formal performance

measurement framework

AGSA value-add in Portfolio Committee OversightPC process AGSA support

Annual Assessment of Departments duringthe Budget Review Process (BRRR)

Sensitise portfolio committees about the root causes to undesirable audit outcomes

Solicit portfolio committee’s commitment to act on the identified issues; Advocate for specific oversight action to deal with issues raised; and Clearly define the AGSA’s role and that of oversight committees so that

there is clarity on actions to be taken

Annual Performance Plans (APP) Reviews

A. Interim audit of the approved APPs (current year)• Measurability of indicators / measures • Measurability of targets • Relevance of the planned and reported performance information

B. The interim review of the draft APPs (next year)• Assessment of the process followed for the preparation, submission and

approval of strategic plans (if relevant) and APPs. • Assessment of the measurability and relevance of the indicators and targets

planned for each selected programme.

Solicit the portfolio committee’s commitment to act on the identified issues Advocate for specific oversight action to deal with issues raised

Value-add on budgets The work done on AoPO in relation to budgets is limited to linking of budget allocations to programmes/ objectives/ development priorities.

Findings of the Open Budget Survey 2015

• 100/100• 85/100

• 65/100• 86/100

Budget Transparency

Budget Participation

Budget Oversight by

Audit

Budget Oversight by Parliament

Recommendations

• Intensified oversight on key budget allocations especially on programmes linked to the SDGs

• Follow and interrogate the budget spend on grants from national to provincial government

• Interrogate the value derived from government expenditure on infrastructure

• Investigate and seek corrective measures on the occurrence of Unauthorised, Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure

• Strengthen recommendations to firm up consequence management for lack of compliance with key legislation and regulations

How to get in touch with the AGSA

Follow the AGSA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuditorGen_SA

www.agsa.co.za

Auditor-General of South Africa