This Guide for Accounting Officers is the main guide in a series of publications designed to help accounting officers implement the changes brought about by the introduction of the Public Finance Management Act of 1999. This Guide updates and significantly expands on the preliminary versions distributed in March and July 2000.

The PFMA is a key element in a set of reforms to the management of government finances.

Implementing the Act represents a major challenge for the public sector. If the objectives of the Act are to be achieved successfully, all stakeholders will need to change their way of working. The Act emphasises the importance of good management and accountability, and clarifies the accountability chain by defining the division of responsibilities between accounting officers and their Ministers or MECs. The Act recognises the importance of sound information for good management practices and for enabling the various stakeholders to fulfil their responsibilities.

Chapters 1 and 2 of the Guide set out the philosophy behind the drafting of the PFMA and assists stakeholders in understanding their responsibilities under the Act. These chapters explain the impact of the changes for the accounting officers of national and provincial departments at each step of the planning, implementing, monitoring and reporting cycle. The national Treasury has produced the Guide to help improve financial management, but recognises that the process of implementation will be a collective learning experience for all concerned. Complete implementation of the Act is expected to take several years, but significant and continuous improvements can and must be achieved over the next 12 months. Chapter 3 outlines these priorities for implementation, and should be regarded as the most important chapter.

Many of these urgent steps are basic to any organisation, and are concerns only because of past neglect. Addressing the priorities set out in Chapter 3 will enable accounting officers to manage their departments more effectively, and will lay the basis for improved service delivery by those departments. The chapters that follow expand on Chapter 3.

The Guide emphasises that the PFMA must be read with the three sets of Treasury Regulations issued for departments, public entities and payroll deductions respectively. In addition, given the complex system of intergovernmental and labour issues, the Division of Revenue Act of 2000 and the Public Service Regulations are also relevant. This Guide does not include detailed information on public entities – a separate document will be published in due course.

The Guide for Accounting Officers is intended to facilitate a general understanding and assist in the smooth implementation of the PFMA. An informal approach has been followed to make the Guide as user friendly as possible. It is not a substitute for the Act and should not be used for legal interpretations. This Guide does not in any way detract from the responsibilities Parliament and the legislatures expect all accounting officers to fulfil in terms of the PFMA.

Maria Ramos

Director-General: National Treasury

The document is also available on the Internet at: www.treasury.gov.za

Comments on this document should be submitted to Jayce Nair

Tel: (012) 315-5482 E-mail: [email protected]