sahr2001 - Health Systems Trust

Annual Reports and the
Public Finance Management Act
7
David Fourie
School of Public Management and Administration
University of Pretoria
The Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act 1 of 1999), 1 provides accounting officers
with flexibility and autonomy to manage government departments. However to ensure
accountability, the accounting officer is expected to report on the activities of the
Department in an Annual Report. National Treasury has developed guidelines for annual
reports. 2-5
This chapter provides an overview of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act 1
of 1999) (PFMA) 1 with reference to annual reporting, the guidelines provided by national
Treasury for annual reporting, 2-5 the criteria for good reporting, monitoring and evaluation
systems, and service delivery indicators. Finally, the Annual Reports of the 10 Departments
of Health, 6,7 national and provincial, are assessed to determine if these reports comply
with Treasury Guidelines.
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