The South African Police Service (SAPS) is moving in the right direction as far as financial reporting is concerned. This has been affirmed by the Auditor General’s report which has revealed that the Department has obtained an unqualified audit opinion for the 2021/2022 financial year.
An unqualified audit report is one in which the Auditor General expresses an opinion that the financial statements of a Department are free of any material misstatements, fairly presents the financial affairs of the Department and that financial reporting is compliant with applicable legislation.
Though an unqualified audit opinion is received with findings, the department is experiencing challenges when it comes to incurrence of Irregular Expenditure and Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure. This refers to unwanted expenditure that ultimately has a negative impact on service delivery by the department. We all agree that the money can and must be utilised to enhance service delivery to better the lives of all communities in this country.
Every official of the SAPS has a responsibility to take effective and appropriate steps to prevent irregular and wasteful expenditure within their area of responsibility through managing resources, including money allocated to that official. The continuous incurrence of irregular expenditure, fruitless and wasteful expenditure must be stopped and should not be tolerated.
While the department is striving to attain clean administration and clean governance, it is equally important that the department attains its targets as set out in the Annual Performance Plan. Deviation from set targets leads to declined public trust and negative perceptions about the department.
It is worth noting that SAPS has obtained an unqualified audit report for two consecutive financial years. This should instil some degree of public confidence that the Department is using taxpayers’ money in an optimal and prudent manner considering the important mandate the Department has of maintaining law and order.
Notwithstanding the findings contained in the audit report which indicate that there is still room for improvement, especially in the fleet management environment the report demonstrates that the SAPS is hard at work to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in the utilisation of resources.
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