HOW TO OBTAIN TECHNICAL ADVICE ON ACCOUNTING RELATED MATTERS AND HOW TO RESOLVE INTERPRETATION DIFFERENCES DURING THE AUDIT CYCLE

To ensure that all stakeholders follow the same process in obtaining technical advice on accounting related principles in a Standard of Generally Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP), and to ensure that the appropriate party is consulted on interpretation differences that arise between auditees and their auditors during the audit process, representatives from the Office of the Accountant-General, the Auditor-General and the Secretariat of the Accounting Standards Board have agreed to put in place a specific process to deal with such matters.

Responsibility of the Secretariat of the Accounting Standards Board

The Secretariat of the Accounting Standards Board is only permitted to respond to technical enquiries that are high-level, principle-based questions regarding the Standards of GRAP.

Process in dealing with accounting related matters and interpretation differences

During the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) audit cycles, the agreed processes to follow are:

Auditors - PFMA and the MFMA audit cycles

Any queries from the auditors, who are employed by the Auditor-General should be directed to the Product Champions in each province. If necessary, these queries will be escalated to the Audit Research and Development Business unit.

Auditees - MFMA audit cycle

In those provinces where responsibility over municipalities has been delegated to the Provincial Treasury, any queries should be submitted to the Provincial Accountant-General. If necessary, these queries will be escalated to the Office of the Accountant-General.

Where responsibility over certain municipalities has been delegated to the National Treasury, any queries should be submitted to the responsible official within the Office of the Accountant-General. Reference should be made the website page of the Office of the Accountant-General for more information in this regard [http://oag.treasury.gov.za].

 Auditees - PFMA audit cycle

Any queries by provincial departments and public entities should be submitted to the Provincial-Accountant-General. As mentioned above, these queries may be escalated to the Office of the Accountant-General.

All national departments and public entities should direct queries to the responsible official within the Office of the Accountant-General.

To the extent that the matter needs to be deliberated, it will be escalated to the weekly discussions, held during the respective audit cycles, between representatives from the Office of the Accountant-General, the Auditor-General and the Secretariat of the Accounting Standards Board. Once agreement has been reached between these representatives, the Audit Research and Development Business unit will respond to the auditor via the Product Champions in each province. The Office of the Accountant-General will respond to the auditee either directly, or through the Provincial Accountant-General, depending on the process in place between the auditee and the Office of the Accountant-General.