Critical Considerations to Attaining and Sustaining Clean Audit Outcomes in the South African Public Sector: A Case of the National School of Government

A significant objective of the government is to provide democratic and accountable governance through its public sector institutions. Thus, allocating budgets from the national fiscus to public sector institutions means they must manage and utilize it efficiently, effectively, and economically. It also means that public sector institutions must accurately and transparently account for managing and utilizing budgets and how effectively institutions are governed. As such, the audit function is a key methodology used to independently test and evaluate financial and non-financial performance, corporate governance and compliance matters in the public sector. The pinnacle achievement for any institution is obtaining an unqualified audit opinion without material findings, also called a clean audit. It is, therefore, significant that this chapter examines the approach towards attaining a clean audit outcome and shares perspectives and experiences within the public sector. The National School of Government (the NSG) is a government department that provides or facilitates the provision of education, training, and development (ETD) in the public sector. This includes the three spheres of government (national, provincial, and local), state-owned enterprises, and the legislatures. The NSG has sustained a clean audit outcome over the years. Thus, this chapter evaluates the factors contributing to the NSG attaining and sustaining a clean audit outcome over the years. A case study approach is followed to share the experiences and perspectives of the NSG.