The Local Government: Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000) requires municipalities to prepare a report each financial year reflecting the performance of the municipality against its predetermined objectives. The Annual Performance Report (APR) must be inclusive of a report on the performance of each external service provider, a comparison of the performance achieved in the previous financial year, and measures taken to improve performance.

The APR includes highlights from the key performance measures outlined in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which have been prioritised and approved through the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP).

• The Action iT People subject matter experts have over 16 years of experience in drafting and reviewing APRs for local governments, ensuring that these reports provide an accurate overview of the performance against predetermined objectives for the Auditor-General and Council.
• This puts us in a unique position to provide guidance and support to clients on legislative compliance and best practice principles to secure the most appropriate audit outcome for the particular financial year.

By utilising the services of Action iT People for the purposes of reviewing the Draft APR before the submission thereof to the Auditor-General, municipalities will derive the following benefits:

• Ensure accuracy, reliability and integrity of the APR and reported achievements and measures for improvements;
• Ensure compliance with recommended APR format and inclusions;
• Verification of supporting Portfolio of Evidence (POE) for correctness;
• Ensure alignment of the APR with relevant legislation best practice principles;
• Independent oversight of the performance compliance;
• Review of the alignment and accuracy of the APR to the approved SDBIP and IDP;
• Review of the completeness of the APR, including the comparison with the previous financial year and the performance of external service providers; and
• Recommendations for items for inclusion in the Performance Policies and related documents for the new financial year.

In order to draft the APR, the following items are included in the scope of work:

• 2 x days on-site fact finding and collection of information;
• Review of the analysis per Key Performance Area as included in the Draft APR;
• Verification of the Audit File for submission along with the Draft APR to the Auditor-General;
• Review of the inputs for relevant performance chapters in the Draft Annual Report;
• Review of the actual achievements reported, reasons for underachievement and measures for improvement contained in the Draft APR in comparison with submitted POE;
• 1 x virtual workshop to discuss APR and POE discrepancies;
• Legislative assistance with responses to requests for information and findings from the Auditor-General;
• Report on the performance management compliance risks and recommendations.

The following items are excluded from the scope of work:

• Compilation and generation of the Draft APR;
• Analysis of performance per Strategic Objective and Key Performance Area;
• Auditing of the Draft or Final APR, POE and APR Tables;
• Submissions of the APR and POE to external stakeholders, including the Auditor-General and Council;
• Presentation of the Draft and/or final APR to the Managerial Team, Audit Committee, Council, the community or the Auditor-General;
• Responses on requests for information and findings received from the Auditor-General pertaining to materiality and audit evidence;
• Responses on requests for information and findings received from the Auditor-General for non-APR related performance matters;
• Amendments to existing approved documentation and Key Performance Indicators or recommendations for future amendments; and
• Inputs into the Audit Action Plan following the Audit Outcome by the Auditor-General.

The success of the project is contingent on the availability of information, robust turnaround time on requests for information and buy-in from all relevant members of municipal staff.

The price of the proposed services is contingent on the categorical classification of the municipality and the amount of mandated basic services provisions to the community.

The following terms and conditions will apply to the project:

• The client’s management team is responsible for ensuring stakeholder commitment and support for all initiatives.
• All relevant stakeholders will attend the allocated meetings as scheduled.
• The team will endeavour to fulfil the scope of work, as far as possible, off-site to ensure that travel and subsistence costs are kept to a minimum.
• Travel and subsistence costs will be charged separately and at actual costs incurred;
• The client is responsible for supplying source documentation to the consultant within 24 hours of request and in the format as requested by the advisor; and
• If the client cancels an agreed on-site engagement in less than 48 hours, the client will be liable for actual disbursement costs already incurred by the service provider.