COGTA ANNUAL REPORT 2020

It was noted that a Quality Assurance Review (external assessment) was performed by an external independent reviewer during the year and Internal Audit was assessed to be Generally Conformant with the International Standards for Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. The Audit Committee will continue to monitor the capacity and the resources allocated to the Internal Audit function. Risk Management Progress on the departmental risk management was reported to the Audit Committee on a quarterly basis. The Audit Committee notes the effort made by the Department to improve its risk management processes, although some areas still requires improvement. Management should take full responsibility for the entire Enterprise Risk Management Process and continue to support the Chief Risk Officer to enhance the performance of the Department. The Department should improve its culture of risk management in order to obtain a clean administration. Forensic Investigations Investigations into alleged financial irregularities, financial misconduct and fraud were performed during the year under review. The Audit Committee will monitor the recommendations as contained in the Forensic Investigation reports. The quality of quarterly reports submitted in terms of the PFMA and the Division of Revenue Act The Audit Committee notes the content and quality of financial and non-financial quarterly reports prepared and submitted by the Accounting Officer of the Department during the year under review and emphasise that the Department must improve the quality of its financial and non-financial reports. Audit Committee reviewed the draft annual financial statements prepared by the department before the submission of the annual financial statements to the external auditors for audit the audit committee meeting held on 15th June 2020 and recommended them for audit. • Reviewed and discussed the audited Annual Financial Statements to be included in the Annual Report, with the AGSA and the Accounting Officer; • Reviewed the Audit Report of the AGSA; • Reviewed the AGSA’s Management Report and Management’s response thereto; • Reviewed the Department’s compliance with legal and regulatory provisions; and • Reviewed significant adjustments resulting from the audit. The Audit Committee concurs with and accepts the AGSA’s conclusions on the Annual Financial Statements and is of the opinion that the audited Annual Financial Statements be accepted and read together with the report of the AGSA. The department must once again be commended for having no material misstatements. One-on-one Meetings with the Accounting Officer The Audit Committee has met with the Accounting Officer for the Department to address unresolved Issues. One-on-one Meetings with the Executive Authority The committee has not met with the Executive Authority for the Department to apprise the MEC on the performance of the Department it believes that the frequency of these interactions would be more beneficial to the Executive Authority. Evaluation of Annual Financial Statements The Audit Committee has: •

G A U T E N G P R O V I N C I A L G O V E R N M E N T I C O- O P E R A T I V E G O V E R N A N C E A N D T R A D I T I O N A L A F F A I R S ANNUAL REPORT 2019/20 78