Effectiveness of the Auditor General in Schedule 3C and 3D entities in North West Province

Abstract

The research was conducted in the North West Province, South Africa. Its purpose is to find the effectiveness of the Auditor-General in schedule 3c and 3d public entities in the North West Province .The study sought to find these causes with the aim of providing preventive measures to improve audit outcomes of the selected public entities in the North West Province. The objectives were to determine the causes of the ineffectiveness of the Auditor-General in ensuring public sector accountability in the five selected public entities in the North West Province and to ascertain as to whether the identified causes contribute to the poor audit outcomes of the public entities in the North West Province. The Auditor-General is given the powers by the constitution of the Republic of South Africa to audit all public institutions in South Africa, however there is no significant improvement on the audit outcomes of public entities in the North West Province, which ultimately renders the Auditor-General ineffective in ensuring public sector accountability in the NW Public entities. To identify the causes of ineffectiveness of the Auditor - General, the importance of the Auditor-General, and to finally to ascertain whether the identified causes contribute to the poor audit outcomes. Findings of the study indicate that the five entities agree with the identified causes of the ineffectiveness of the Auditor-General. In general five entities agree with the identified causes at 45.11 % and strongly agree at 15.8%. In terms of the identified views on the importance of the Auditor-General 54.42 agree while 29.64% strongly agree on the significance view of the Auditor-General and the last section of the Questionnaire was intended to ascertain whether these causes contribute to the poor audit outcomes of the public entities in the North West Province and 50.45% agree while 33.91 % of the respondents strongly agree. The study discovered that the identified causes contributed to the poor audit outcomes in North West Public entities. Since the causes are identified the researcher recommended measures to address the identified causes, which will ultimately improve the audit outcomes of public entities in the NW Province. The major role-players in effecting these recommendations will be the management of the entities and the appointed Board.