Reference

Remarks

B1.1

to

B1.6

The Strategic Planning process is one of the key responsibilities of the accounting officer. It is central to his/her responsibility in terms of section 38(1)(b) of the Act for the effective, efficient, economical and transparent use of the resources of the department to which he/she is assigned. The strategic planning process promotes communication between the accounting officer and the executive authority to ensure commonality of understanding and purpose in the department's pursuit of Government objectives and outcomes. The consolidated strategic plans of budget dependent institutions are also central to the Government's overall budget deliberations and fiscal policy as well as its medium term budgetary and fiscal strategies and thus impact directly on its plans for the allocation of resources between sectors, regions and socio-economic groups within the economy. Published plans also constitute an important basis for making Government operations transparent to Parliament and Provincial Legislatures and are thus key instruments in the accountability process. They not only provide essential information for Parliament and the Provincial Legislatures to assess and debate proposed Government programmes, they also through the provision of performance measures and indicators, enable them to evaluate performance in the achievement of planned programmes, objectives and outcomes when such measures and indicators are published in annual reports. In terms of Treasury Regulation 5.3.1 the accounting officer of a department must establish procedures for quarterly reporting to the executive authority against the published strategic plan to facilitate effective performance monitoring, evaluation and corrective action.

B1.7

In terms of PSR, Chapter 1, Part III C, an executive authority must establish and sustain a service delivery improvement programme for his or her department :

The executive authority must publish an annual statement of public service commitment, which must set out the department's service standards that citizens and customers can expect and which will serve to explain how the department will meet each of the standards.

B2.1

In terms of Treasury Regulation 6.1 the accounting officer of a department must comply with any annual budget circular issued by the relevant treasury. Budget circulars issued by the provincial treasuries must be consistent with any budget circular issued by the National Treasury to provincial treasuries.

B2.2

Economy denotes the cheapest possible option for the production of a chosen output. Economy measures ask the questions "Was the service delivered at the lowest possible cost"? or "did the service delivered cost more than comparable services elsewhere"? Efficiency tries to capture how productively resources are translated into service delivery. It basically asks the question "Did we perform the job without wasting resources"? or in other words "Did we do things right"? Effectiveness captures the degree to which objectives are achieved. Effectiveness measures ask the question "Did the job achieve the desired results"? Or Did we do the right thing"? It is important to note that none of these measures should be used in isolation. For example, it is useless to have the cheapest possible service (economy) unless the service actually achieves its goal (effectiveness). Effectiveness is also of limited use unless the cost of achievement is known.

B2.3

The organisational processes and structures must be reviewed regularly to ensure that not only output criteria are met but that they are met efficiently and at the least cost and effort. In terms of planning and budgeting, line managers need to be able to define the objectives of their particular programme, which in turn will lead to defining the key activities, outputs and outcomes for service delivery. They need to ensure that lines of accountability are appropriate and match the required responsibility. They also need to be able to refine programme objectives and structures according to the feedback received from performance monitoring and evaluation.

B2.4

Unless the relevant treasury directs otherwise, an accounting officer may utilise a saving of up to 8 per cent of the amount appropriated under a main division for defraying excess expenditure under another main division within the same vote. This must be reported to the executive authority and the relevant treasury within seven days. Treasury Regulation 6.3 specifies that the relevant treasury must provide prior approval before any personnel expenditure or transfer payment is increased or before any earmarked allocations are used for purposes other than originally voted.