'Our bean counters are hopeless'

Auditor-general Kimi Makwetu has conceded in parliament that a large number of senior managers in charge of government finances are not competent enough to occupy their positions.

Makwetu told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) yesterday that "many" officials working in the finance and audit units of government departments had not achieved minimum competency levels.

Makwetu said if officials failed to stick to the basics, there was no way they would be saved by audit committees.

He said most senior finance managers were failing to meet required competency standards, including at the level of chief financial officer.

"A CFO, for example, would be required to have done level four or whatever level of accounting to act as CFO, but in a number of instances that is not the case. That is why we are pointing out that weakness, because it is at the heart of this (matter)," said Makwetu.

Scopa has now called for a skills audit to be conducted in the finance and audit divisions of all government departments.

Makwetu was briefing Scopa on the extent of wastage of public funds by government departments and municipalities.

His report showed the departments of Co-operative Governance, Public Works, Correctional Services, Transport and Defence were the worst offenders, with the five racking up an irregular expenditure of R2.4-billion.

It also revealed that 37 out of 40 national departments were not complying with relevant legislation, especially in the procurement of goods and services, human resources and IT controls.

Makwetu said only 58% of departments achieved unqualified audits after their financial statements were corrected by his office.

"The quality of what was received when the financial statements were submitted for audit at the end of May was lacking, to the extent that 58% of departments were able to avoid qualification due to the correction of misstatements during auditing," he said.

ANC MP Roy Ainsley said a skills audit that was recently conducted on the SABC should also be done in government.