Financial Accountability Framework for Local Municipalities in the North West Province

Achieving a clean audit report has been almost impossible for the local municipalities of the North West province due to mismanagement of financial resources by the municipal role-players. In this regard, this study was aimed at exploring the key enablers to achieve financial accountability as well as propose a framework for financial accountability. The Stewardship Theory underpinned this study which emphasises the need for public servants to serve their employers with utmost truthfulness. The social constructivist research paradigm and a qualitative research approach was adopted. An exploratory research design was applied and a semi-structured interviews was used as a data collection method. A total of thirty six participants participated in the study. At the end of data collection, Atlas-ti software (version 8.2) was used to analyse data. Themes and categories were presented using Atlas-ti network diagram and these were well interpreted and discussed. Findings obtained from the study indicated that the key enablers of municipal financial accountability include the facilitation of policies and legislation, the facilitation oversight functions of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, risk management, benchmarking, internal control, and financial management. These factors were investigated in the empirical study and it was discovered that all are key enablers towards achieving financial accountability except benchmarking which was regarded as a growth tool. Added to these factors are the contributions to the body of knowledge which include training of financial employees and the implementation of consequence management against role-players who do not abide with the financial policies and legislation of the municipalities. The study recommends above all, that the municipality role-players (financial employees) should be adequately trained to ensure competency, MPAC should effectively conduct their oversight duties and recommendations, also legal actions should be adequately taken on all culprits without fear or favour. This is in an endeavour to enhance financial accountability of local municipalities in the North West province.