Qualified audit achievement for TLM 

Thabazimbi – Thabazimbi Local Municipality (TLM) is pleased to announce that it has improved its audit outcome for 2018/19 to a qualified opinion.

A qualified opinion report is issued when the auditor encountered some situations which do not comply with generally accepted accounting principles, however the rest of the financial statements are fairly presented. Unlike an adverse or disclaimer of opinion, a qualified opinion is generally still acceptable to lenders, creditors, and investors. The good news on the improved audit outcome was officially delivered to the mayor on Thursday 13 February by Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) representative Chris Stoumann. 

TLM has been receiving disclaimer of audit opinion for five consecutive years from 2012/13 to 2017/18. The municipality has failed to submit the annual financial statements (AFS) on time for the previous two financial years. 

However, with the concerted efforts by the TLM management team and internal controls put in place, the municipality managed to submit the AFS together with the annual performance report on time for the first time since 2015/16.

The municipality has developed a strategy to overcome the negative audit outcome. 
The strategy includes amongst other things:

• Weekly steering committee meetings chaired by the TLM mayor.
• AFS preparation plan with timelines, monitored by the accounting officer.
• AFS preparation team which reports progress monthly to Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) and the provincial treasury.
• Quarterly reporting progress on action plans to the audit committee.
• Internal audit reporting progress on action plans to senior management meetings weekly.
• Submission of draft AFS to the audit committee on time for review, etc.

AGSA’s report to TLM noted that our management should be commended for implementing most of the action plans as requested by both the external and internal audit.

This allowed for an improvement in the internal control environment with corrective measures in place which had a direct impact on the audit outcome.

TLM remains committed to the principles of good governance and continues to practice the principles and procedures required to maintain our fiscal discipline and stability. 

Our officials, under political principal’s oversight, remain committed to delivering services of a high quality, continued good  governance and compliance with legislation.

The TLM mayor on behalf of the councillors  and municipal manager on behalf of the administration extended their warm words of appreciation and encouragement to municipal officials who were involved during the audit process working overtime to ensure that documents were submitted to AGSA on time and continued support from CoGHSTA, provincial treasury, South African Local Government Association as well as oversight role played by the political management team (PMT), executive committee, council, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and the audit committee.

TLM would like to thank the community of Thabazimbi at large for their patience in addressing challenges faced by the municipality in financial management and service delivery.

Working together we can achieve more and make Thabazimbi a better place to live with pride and dignity!

TLM press release, 19 February 2020