An assessment of spending patterns of provincial departments of the North West Province

Abstract

The North West Province like any other province in South Africa receives transfers from national government, which get distributed accordingly to provincial departments. However, some provincial departments in the North West over the years have not been spending all the monies allocated to them by the provincial treasury. These monies are meant for the development of the province and consequently addressing of socioeconomic ills that confronts the province. This study recognised this as a critical concern that warranted inquisitiveness. Whether this behaviour, namely, underspending could be predicted and consequently prevented was not clear and thus gave rise to this study. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to establish whether under-spending provincial departments and fully-spending departments, respectively, displayed a specific spending pattern throughout the financial year. Data necessary to conduct this study was collected from Quarterly Provincial Expenditure Reports and Annual Reports of provincial departments of the North-West Provincial Government. The collected data was analysed by means of ratio analysis. The research results revealed that under-spending provincial departments and fully-spending departments, respectively, displayed spending patterns throughout the financial year. that are distinct to that of each other. The study further revealed that under-spending departments followed a slow pattern of spending. The converse was revealed for full y-spending departments. The study went on to suggest a blueprint pattern of spending that could be followed by depa11ments throughout the financial year.