GDF Annual Report - Gauteng Provincial Treasury

SECTION 3: REPORT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PROGRAMMESthe planned target of 90 of its stated auditcoverage for the year for all the various GPGdepartments. The remaining audits areat reporting stage with only managementcomments outstanding. A number of auditswere not finalized timely due to resourceconstraints as well as client delays in providingdocumentation and management comments.• Sub-Programme: Computer auditingFor the 2010-11 financial year, 22 auditswere completed against a target of 21 for allthe various GPG departments. The 22 auditreports also included 3 reviews that wereof an advisory nature. There is a residualnumber of 4 audits over and above the settarget which comprised of ad-hoc audits thatwere not planned for which were requestedby the various client departments. The fourremaining audits are at reporting stage withjust management comments outstanding.Three of these four outstanding audit reportswere audits that were outsourced to externalservice providers due to the specialised natureof the skills required. Part of the challenge wasthat the approval to outsource these auditswas granted very late in the financial year, i.e.in the last quarter of the financial year.• Sub-Programme: Performance AuditThe sub-unit has concluded 13 audits against atarget of 17 of its stated audit coverage for theyear for all the various GPG departments. In thecurrent financial year GAS was unable to usethe body shop of consultants as planned due tobudgetary constraints. The available resourceswere efficiently planned to ensure successfulconclusion of the audit coverage plan however,major delays experienced in terms of receivinginformation for audit, non availability of officialsand late provision of management commentsmade it impossible to conclude all 17 audits ontime.REASONS FOR MAJOR VARIANCESThe greatest challenge of the unit was limited resourcesi.e. availability of sufficient human resources to conductplanned audits. However, by the end of the financial yearthe department managed to fill most of the vacant postsand is currently sitting with a 10% vacancy rate thatis planned to be filled during 2011/12 financial year.The unit also faced difficulties in finalizing all audits asplanned as per approved internal audit plan timelines.This was mainly due to clients i.e. departmental officials,not always available as and when required to ensuresmooth facilitation of the audit process, delays in theprovision of documentation required for audit purposesand delays in provision of management comments andaction plans by departmental management. Escalationprocesses are being implemented on an ongoing basisto address this challenge and measures are beingimplemented to ensure forging of closer relationshipswith management.OUTLOOK FOR THE YEAR AHEADDuring the coming year, the division will continue toprovide independent assurance services by performingrisk and compliance audits, computer and performanceaudits covering 139 critical areas in line with approvedinternal audit plans based on key strategic risks of theGPG departments. These will focus on areas identifiedas high risk by the various departments and also takinginto account key control issues that have already beenhighlighted by the Auditor General in order to ensurecontinuous improvement in terms of internal controls,governance and risk management processes.• Sub-Programme: Risk and Compliance auditThe Gauteng Provincial Government is aimingto achieve a clean audit report by 2014and Gauteng Audit Services continues in itsinitiative to provide assistance to Departmentsin this regard. Therefore the internal audit plansare focused not only on the key service delivery8888Annual Report 2010 / 2011