The interesting thing about finance is it gives you a bird’s eye view of every department in the organisation. Finance is also an effective measuring tool to measure the performance of departments and the services they deliver to the residents.
The finance department is however measured externally through the annual audit by the Auditor General(AG), Mr Kimi Makwetu. In the council meeting last week the AG’s report was tabled to inform council of the financial performance of the Metro.
Three years ago, many municipalities were failing financially and in 2010/2011 only 13 of the 343 municipalities in the country had received clean audits, with none of the country’s metros receiving a clean audit. The Auditor General completed the annual audit of 2013/14 as prescribed by Section 126(3) of the MFMA, and not surprisingly – EKURHULENI DID IT!
The AG certified the Metro as financially clean. A Clean Audit is the pinnacle of achievement in financial reporting, and can only be achieved when the AG is satisfied that a municipality is 1. financially unqualified, that there are, 2. No findings on Pre-Determined Objectives and 3. No Finding on Compliance Matters.
This is a significant financial achievement and a victory for responsible and prudent financial management of the public resources entrusted to us by the people of Ekurhuleni. Even though as a metro we still face many challenges, on the financial side of things we have delivered a Clean Audit to the residents and ratepayers.
The realisation of this dream is a direct result of the valiant efforts and financial leadership of the Finance Oversight Committee, MMC of Finance, and the Executive Mayor.
Special mention must be made of the late Lungile Mshali, who started with the first step in driving Ekurhuleni to achieve an unqualified audit when she was MMC of Finance. The collective efforts of all stakeholders have now lead to our clean audit for the 2013/2014 financial year.
Ekurhuleni has in this term delivered the great achievement of three unqualified audits in a row, and now a Clean Audit result.
What this clean audit ultimately means is that in Ekurhuleni we have put in place good systems and processes for handling public funds. The challenge ahead for us is to sustain our achievement and deliver Clean Audit results in the future.
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