Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997)RegulationsRegulations for Annual Reporting by Public Higher Education InstitutionsScheduleImplementation Manual for Annual ReportingChapter 5 |
SUBMISSION OF THE AUDITED SUPPLEMENTARY ELECTRONIC FINANCIAL DATA
| 5.1 | Introduction |
The Department requires, in addition to the "hard copy" annual report and financial statements, additional information, which must be contained in an electronic format prescribed by the Department.
A copy of this data template will be supplied annually to institutions via Email or any other form. The format of the required data will be inserted in advance before the template is sent to institutions. This template must be used for inserting the relevant required financial data.
The data must be inserted and submitted by the institution with appropriate certification by the institution's auditors together with the institution's Annual Report not more than six months after the financial year-end date of a university/university of technology. (An example of a standard audit report appears at the bottom of this Chapter (6.5.1)).
IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT ALL INSTITUTIONS USE THE TEMPLATE SUPPLIED ANNUALLY BY THE DEPARTMENT
| 5.2 | Content of the template may include the following information, but not limited: |
The data required on the templates may be separated into different categories such as:
| i) | basic financial data extracted from the annual financial statements; |
| ii) | performance/status indicators, (analysis of financial position/performance of an institution); |
| iii) | supplementary financial data relating to: |
| a) | expenditure by activity/programmes/CESM categories; |
| b) | investment data; |
| c) | borrowings data; |
| d) | student, staff expenditure ratio; |
| e) | income streams and allocation of income; |
| f) | any other material information extracted from the HEI records. |
| 5.3 | Purposes for which the Data is required |
The data required on the spreadsheets serves various essential purposes for the Department of Education and all HE stakeholders.
| a) | It is necessary to have the financial information contained in the audited financial statements of all universities and universities of technology available in a format that facilitates analysis and interpretation. |
| b) | The Department has a responsibility to be constantly aware of the "financial health" of institutions and to be in a position to give advice on the financial "norms and standards" that are indicative of sound financial management. |
| c) | Furthermore, the Department must, on a regular basis, be able to respond to questions about the sector from Parliament, from other government departments, from the media and the general public. |
The Department is aware of the necessity of being able to prepare scenario projections for improving its own planning processes as well as providing planning data to other government departments, e.g. the Department of Finance, to enable the future of higher education to be addressed on a sound footing.
For these reasons it is essential that individual institutions, in preparing their annual submissions, prepare the required data as accurately as possible.
| 5.4 | Possibility to change the formats and content of the electronic data |
Copies of the templates will be sent annually to all higher educations institutions prior to the due date for submission of the Annual Reports to enable the insertion of the requisite data and the timely return of the completed templates with the Annual Report.
The formats of the templates and the data included therein would be designed to facilitate the interpretation and analysis of the financial condition of all higher education institutions and of the sector as a whole, as well as facilitating the maintenance of the respective databases with the financial information over the years.
It may prove necessary to amend the required formats and data from time to time as and when conditions change and new requirements emerge.
Any future changes to the formats and data will emanate from the essential objectives of achieving an understanding of the financial conditions of various higher education institutions and the sector as a whole and using such information to provide support when necessary.
| 5.5 | Submission of the Additional data to the Department of Education |
The required templates must be completed and certified by an institution's auditors for submission to the Department of Education at the same time as the audited annual financial statements.
A printed copy of the template, initialed by the auditors, must accompany the audit report.
| 5.5.1 | Example of the independent auditor's report on electronic data submitted |
To the (name of institution) on factual findings
Scope
We performed the procedures agreed with you as described below with respect to the schedules on the electronic data template and set forth in the accompanying schedules - "Supplementary financial data and performance/status indicators from HEls" in respect of the year ended dd/mm/yyyy, which we have initialed for identification purposes.
Our engagement was undertaken in accordance with the statements of South African Auditing Standards/International Standards of Auditing applicable to agreed-upon procedures agreements. The responsibility for determining the adequacy or otherwise of the procedures agreed to, is that of the Council of the institution. Our procedures were carried out solely to assist you in evaluating the accuracy of the abovementioned schedules and are summarised as follows:
| • | we performed such checks as to satisfy ourselves that the calculations were mathematically correct, and that the information used in the calculations and included on the schedule of "financial data" agrees with the annual financial statements or any other financial records of the HEI. |
Because the above procedures do not constitute either an audit or a review carried out in accordance with statements of the South African Auditing Standards (International Standards of Auditing), we do not express any assurance on the Schedule "Performance/Status indicators from Universities and Universities of Technology" for the year ended dd/mm/yyyy.
Had we performed additional procedures or had we performed an audit or review of the financial data included in accordance with the Statements of South African Auditing Standards (International Standards of Auditing), other matters might have come to our attention that would have been reported to you.
Our report is solely for the purpose set out in the first paragraph of this report and for your information and is not to be used for any other purpose, nor to be distributed to any other parties. This report relates only to the items specified above and does not extend to any financial statements of the HEI taken as a whole.
XYZ & Co., Public Accountants and Auditors
Date
Address
INQUIRIES:
National Department of Education
Higher Education: Management Support Directorate
123 Schoeman Street
Sol Plaatje House
Private Bag X895
Pretoria, 0001
Telephone: +2712312-5409
Fax: +2712 323-7532