uThungulu District Municipality was given an unqualified report for the 2008/2009 financial year, with some recommendations for improvement in future years.
The Auditor General required all High Capacity Municipalities throughout South Africa to comply with the new GRAP accounting standards by 30 June this year. For many municipalities this posed a huge problem as they didn’t have verified asset registers to start with.
uThungulu District Municipality had fortunately contracted Pragma in 2007 to assist them with an Asset Identification and Verification project from which the Asset Register was compiled. With this as a basis, and the fact that the Asset Care Centre team has guided uThungulu in setting up their Asset Register policy and procedures, uThungulu managed to comply with the Auditor’s requirements and pass the 2008/09 audit.
The Auditor’s requirements were exacting and as this was the first year of reporting on this basis, there were many new requirements and the entire register was subjected to considerable scrutiny. However, dedication, close co-operation and interaction between Pragma and the uThungulu financial team responsible for assets, made this achievement possible.
The Asset Care Centre will now focus on the suggestions for improvement given to them and ensure that they are well prepared for the 2009/2010 audit.
