REPORT OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL
TO PARLIAMENT ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE INFORMATION OF VOTE
15 - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH
2007
REPORT ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Introduction
1. I have audited the accompanying financial
statements of the Department of Education which comprise the statement of
financial position as at 31 March 2007, appropriation statement, statement of
financial performance, statement of changes in net assets and cash flow
statement for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting
policies and other explanatory notes, as set out on pages 161 to 204.
Responsibility of the accounting officer for the financial statements
2. The accounting officer is responsible for the preparation and fair
presentation of these financial statements in accordance with the modified cash
basis of accounting determined by the National Treasury, as set out in
accounting policy 11 to the financial statements and in the manner required by
the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No.1 of 1999) (PFMA). This
responsibility includes:
·
designing, implementing and
maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation
of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due
to fraud or error
·
selecting and applying
appropriate accounting policies
·
making accounting estimates
that are reasonable in the circumstances.
Responsibility of the
Auditor-General
3. As required by section 188 of the Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa, 1996 read with section 4 of the Public Audit Act, 2004 (Act No. 25 of
2004), my responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements
based on my audit.
4. I conducted my audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing and General
Notice 647of 2007, issued in Government Gazette No. 29919 of 25 May 2007. Those
standards require that I comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform
the audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are
free from material misstatement.
5. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the
amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected
depend on the auditor's judgement, including the assessment of the risks of
material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or
error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control
relevant to the entity's preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements
in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances,
but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the
entity's internal control.
6. An audit also includes evaluating the:
·
appropriateness of accounting
policies used
·
reasonableness of accounting
estimates made by management
·
overall presentation of the
financial statements.
7. I believe that the audit
evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for
my audit opinion.
Basis of accounting
8. The department's policy is to
prepare financial statements on the modified cash basis of accounting
determined by the National Treasury, as set out in accounting policy 11 to the
financial statements.
Opinion
In my opinion the financial
statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of
the Department of Education as at 31 March 2007 and its financial performance
and cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the modified cash
basis of accounting determined by the National Treasury, as set out in
accounting policy 11 to the financial statements and in the manner required by
the PFMA.
OTHER MATTERS
I draw attention to the following
matters that are ancillary to my responsibilities in the audit of the financial
statements:
Delay in finalisation of audit
10. Due to the national public sector strike action during June 2007 the
Auditor-General had to delay the finalisation of affected departments, although
this department has not been affected. As a result, the Auditor-General's
consistency review process of the audit reports could only be conducted
subsequent to 31 July 2007, the consequence of which was a delay in the
finalisation of the audit of this department for the 2006-07 financial year.
OTHER REPORTING RESPONSIBILITIES
Reporting on performance information
11. I have audited the performance
information as set out on pages 36 to 115.
Responsibilities of the accounting officer
12. The accounting officer has additional responsibilities as required by
section 40(3)(a) of the PFMA to ensure that the annual report and audited
financial statements fairly present the performance against predetermined
objectives of the department.
Responsibilities of the Auditor-General
13. I conducted my engagement in accordance with section 13 of the Public Audit
Act, 2004 (Act No. 25 of 2004) read with General Notice 646 of 2007, issued in
Government Gazette No. 29919 of 25 May 2007.
14. In terms of the foregoing my engagement included performing procedures of
an audit nature to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence about the performance
information and related systems, processes and procedures. The procedures
selected depend on the auditor's judgement.
15. I believe that the evidence I
have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to report that there have been no
significant findings identified as a result of my audit.
APPRECIATION
16. The assistance rendered by the
staff of the Department of Education during the audit is sincerely appreciated.
D E L Zondo for Auditor-General
Pretoria
29 August 2007
AUDITOR~GENERAL