Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit Opinion

South African municipalities are the entities closest to citizens in local communities across the country, and they are required to provide services to them. The sustainable provision of services is heavily reliant on sound public finance management in all levels of government. It is unfortunate tha...

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Main Authors: Mamahlodi Mashabela, Xolani Thusi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UiTM Press 2024-11-01
Series:Journal of International Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship
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Online Access:https://journal.uitm.edu.my/ojs/index.php/JIBE/article/view/2430/1906
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author Mamahlodi Mashabela
Xolani Thusi
author_facet Mamahlodi Mashabela
Xolani Thusi
author_sort Mamahlodi Mashabela
collection DOAJ
description South African municipalities are the entities closest to citizens in local communities across the country, and they are required to provide services to them. The sustainable provision of services is heavily reliant on sound public finance management in all levels of government. It is unfortunate that municipalities in South Africa are failing to effectively manage and use public funds to improve service delivery. Most South African municipalities have received negative audit opinions for years, and their current financial situation is deteriorating year after year. This is concerning for a country that has recently celebrated 30 years of democracy; it is unfortunate that democratic gains are being reversed due to issues within South African municipalities such as irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure, non-compliance, a lack of skills, a lack of consequence management, political infighting, corruption, and poor leadership, to name a few. Citizens are the ones who pay the price at the end of the day when services owed to them are not delivered by municipalities due to poor financial management. The objective of this paper is to examine the causes of unsatisfactory audit outcomes in the South African local government sector and recommend solutions to for improving financial management in South African municipalities. To achieve this objective, a systematic literature review was chosen as the appropriate research methodological strategy for this paper
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spelling doaj-art-f3d6164d08104dedb516d22b40c517ad2024-11-12T22:27:41ZengUiTM PressJournal of International Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship2550-14292024-11-0192495710.24191//jibe.v9i2.2430Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit OpinionMamahlodi Mashabela0Xolani Thusi1Department of Public Administration, University of LimpopoDepartment of Public Administration, University of LimpopoSouth African municipalities are the entities closest to citizens in local communities across the country, and they are required to provide services to them. The sustainable provision of services is heavily reliant on sound public finance management in all levels of government. It is unfortunate that municipalities in South Africa are failing to effectively manage and use public funds to improve service delivery. Most South African municipalities have received negative audit opinions for years, and their current financial situation is deteriorating year after year. This is concerning for a country that has recently celebrated 30 years of democracy; it is unfortunate that democratic gains are being reversed due to issues within South African municipalities such as irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure, non-compliance, a lack of skills, a lack of consequence management, political infighting, corruption, and poor leadership, to name a few. Citizens are the ones who pay the price at the end of the day when services owed to them are not delivered by municipalities due to poor financial management. The objective of this paper is to examine the causes of unsatisfactory audit outcomes in the South African local government sector and recommend solutions to for improving financial management in South African municipalities. To achieve this objective, a systematic literature review was chosen as the appropriate research methodological strategy for this paperhttps://journal.uitm.edu.my/ojs/index.php/JIBE/article/view/2430/1906auditcitizensfinancesgovernmentmunicipalities
spellingShingle Mamahlodi Mashabela
Xolani Thusi
Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit Opinion
Journal of International Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship
audit
citizens
finances
government
municipalities
title Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit Opinion
title_full Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit Opinion
title_fullStr Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit Opinion
title_full_unstemmed Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit Opinion
title_short Poor Financial Management in South African Municipalities: Assessing Factors Contributing to Undesirable Audit Opinion
title_sort poor financial management in south african municipalities assessing factors contributing to undesirable audit opinion
topic audit
citizens
finances
government
municipalities
url https://journal.uitm.edu.my/ojs/index.php/JIBE/article/view/2430/1906
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