In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—

"Accounting Officer"

means the Secretary to Parliament, and includes, where appropriate, a person acting as the Accounting Officer;

"Accounting Standards Board"

means the board established in terms of section 87 of the Public Finance Management Act;

"annual national budget"

means the annual national budget referred to in section 27(1) of the Public Finance Management Act;

"annual report"

means the annual report referred to in section 55;

"approved budget"

means the total amount of funds contemplated in section 18;

[Definition amended by section 3(a) of Act No. 34 of 2014]

"Constitution"

means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996

[Definition inserted by section 3(b) of Act No. 34 of 2014]

"Executive Authority"

means the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, acting jointly;

"financial year"

means a year ending 31 March;

"fruitless and wasteful expenditure"

means expenditure that was made in vain and would have been avoided had reasonable care been exercised;

"independent representative"

has the meaning ascribed to it in section 1 of the Political Party Funding Act, 2018 (Act No. 6 of 2018);

[Definition inserted by section 43 of the Electoral Matters Amendment Act, 2024, Notice No. 4790, GG50624, dated 7th May 2024 - Commencement 8 May 2024 by Proclamation 165, GG50628, dated 8 May 2024]

"irregular expenditure"

means expenditure, other than unauthorised expenditure, incurred in contravention of, or that is not in accordance with, a requirement of this Act or any other applicable legislation;

"oversight mechanism"

means the oversight mechanism contemplated in section 4;

"main division"

means one of the main segments into which Parliament’s approved budget is divided and which specifies the total amount which is appropriated and approved for the items under that segment;

"month"

means one of the 12 months of a calendar year;

"official"

means an employee of Parliament or any other person to whom any function is delegated in terms of this Act;

"overspending"

"a person in the employ of the state"

means

"Parliament"

means the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces referred to in section 42(1) of the Constitution;

[Definition inserted by section 3(c) of Act No. 34 of 2014]

"prescribe"

means prescribe by regulation in accordance with section 65;

"provincial annual budget"

means the provincial annual budget referred to in section 27(2) of the Public Finance Management Act;

[Definition inserted by section 3(d) of Act No. 34 of 2014]

"provincial legislature"

means a provincial legislature referred to in section 104 of the Constitution;

[Definition inserted by section 3(d) of Act No. 34 of 2014]

"Public Finance Management Act"

means the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999);

"quarter"

means any of the following periods in a financial year:

"standards of generally recognised accounting practice"

means an accounting practice complying with the standards issued by the Minister of Finance on the advice of the Accounting Standards Board;

"this Act"

includes regulations issued in terms of section 65 and Schedules to the Act;

"unauthorised expenditure"

means—

"vote"

means that portion of Parliament’s budget which forms part of an appropriation Act and which specifies the total amount of funds to be appropriated from the National Revenue Fund for Parliament.