Question NW2235 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
27 September 2021 - NW2235
Mhlongo, Mr TW to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
(1). Whether the current leadership of the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) has received the audited financial statements from the previous CCIFSA leadership; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (2). whether he has found that the audited financial statements were satisfactory; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? NW2539E
Reply:
1. The Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) has always been managed as an independent institution from DSAC given the manner in which it was formed and registered. The Companies Act provides for the business and affairs of a company to be managed by, or under, the direction of its board and the Act also puts a legal duty to Directors to keep company records. While DSAC facilitated the handing over of CCIFSA from the previous leadership, we were also mindful of the independence of the structure hence CCIFSA is not part of our declared institution and therefor did not attend the meetings of the parties to check what exactly items are being handed over, we are aware that the handover process from the previous leadership to the current CCIFSA leadership was conducted.
2. Yes, we found that the audited financial statements were satisfactory. As you are aware, the Companies Act requires all financial statements to be prepared in accordance with a particular framework, also referred to broadly as accounting standards or financial reporting standards.
As part of the requirement, independent auditors using a framework of generally accepted auditing standards which set out the manner in which audit is conducted should evaluate financial statements. The auditors are responsible for expressing an opinion indicating that reasonable assurance has been obtained that the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and that they are fairly presented in accordance with the relevant accounting standards.
According to the information presented, this was the case with CCIFSA and based on the auditors’ opinion, the financial statements presented fairly, in all material respects. It is upon this independent judgement that we found the statements to be satisfactory.