The Eastern Cape provincial government has welcomed the significant improvement in audit outcomes for provincial departments and public entities during the 2022/2023 financial year.
This comes after 15 out of a total of 20 audited public institutions achieved clean audit outcomes, whilst five received unqualified audit opinions.
The provincial government sees the latest audit outcomes as a significant improvement from the five clean audit opinions recorded during the 2018/2019 financial year, to the 15 achieved during the period under review.
A clean audit opinion is issued when financial statements of an auditee are free from material misstatements, and there are no material findings on reporting on performance objectives or non-compliance with legislation.
The Auditor General presented the audit outcomes during a virtual meeting, chaired by Eastern Cape premier, Oscar Mabuyane, on September 26.
“The provincial government welcomes the Auditor General South Africa’s report, which indicates that 15 of the auditees received clean audit opinions whilst five are unqualified opinions with findings.”
“We are excited that the Office of The Premier improved from the unqualified audit with findings to a clean audit, joining the other seven departments that received clean audit opinions during the 2021/2022 audit. This is very important for the office considering its position as a leader of the provincial administration,” said Eastern Cape government spokesperson, Khuselwa Rantjie.
Rantjie said that the provincial government was concerned with audit outcomes of the provincial Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Transport, and the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency whose outcomes have regressed.
“The provincial government has noted areas that require attention, especially in key service delivery portfolios and state-owned enterprises. We will, therefore, be implementing the Auditor General’s recommendations as part of audit improvement plans of the respective departments,” added Rantjie.
The latest audit outcomes further show a 33 percent decrease in irregular expenditure incurred in the year under review, from R1.35 billion to R911 million.
