| Message from the CEO – What are we voting for in 2024 and where can I get information? |
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We officially have the day we will be voting – 29 May 2024. So, what will we be voting for when we go to the polls? If you’re like me, I probably didn’t understand too much about government and how it operates until I actually started working in the public sector.
This year, we will have national and provincial elections. This means it is an opportunity to influence who will be involved in determining the overarching policies of government at a macro-level. This includes policies on education, healthcare, defence, policing, human settlements, the environment, home affairs, and the list goes on.
The national and provincial budgets set out what money national and provincial government will collect and how this money will be spent on government’s various activities. These budgets are tabled in Parliament and the provincial legislatures respectively. Thereafter, individual departments, public entities, and others develop their own budgets based on the allocations they receive. Budgets are accompanied by Annual Performance Plans that outline the service delivery and other activities government and its entities will undertake in a year.
A key measure of any government’s (and entities’) success is comparing their spending and other plans to actual activity. The actual financial activity for government and its entities is presented in the financial statements. A detailed comparison of the actual financial results and the budgets are included in the financial statements. The financial statements are included in an Annual Report, and once audited, is tabled in Parliament. The Annual Report includes a range of useful information, including detailed information about the actual services and other activities delivered versus its annual plan.
Where can you find the Annual Reports? While they should be available on each individual entity’s website, this can be time consuming. All entities’ Annual Reports – as tabled in Parliament – are available from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.
Next month, we will explore some key information in the financial statements and what it means. |
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