The impact of irregular expenditure in the South African public finance with specific reference to the National Department of Public Works

Abstract

In 1999 the South African Parliament passed the Public Finance Management Act No.1 of 1999 (PFMA). The intention was to ensure effective and better public finance management practice. The Act requires that government departments should establish measures to prevent irregular expenditure. However, there has been persistent irregular expenditure reports every year, which is an indication of non – compliance. The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of irregular expenditure in the South African public finance management domain, using the national Department of Public Works as a case study.