Public Sector Governance
Public money carries a stricter standard, because the public is the shareholder.
Departments, municipalities and public entities spend money that belongs to citizens, and the law holds them to account for it. In South Africa the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act place responsibility on accounting officers and boards, and the Auditor-General reports publicly on how they have done. Kenya has its own Public Finance Management Act and an Auditor-General, the UK's National Audit Office scrutinises central government spending, and INTOSAI sets common standards for the audit institutions of many countries.
In South Africa the vocabulary is its own. Irregular expenditure, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and unauthorised expenditure each have a definition and a consequence. Supply chain management is a frequent site of failure, and so are weak internal controls and slow responses to audit findings. Good public governance combines compliance with a real commitment to service delivery.
This theme is about the duties of those who govern and manage public bodies, and the habits that keep public money used as intended.
Accounting officers and authorities, public entity board members, municipal managers and councillors, and finance and supply chain officials.