Another clean audit for City Parks

City Parks has received its 10th clean audit, reassuring its shareholders, supporters and donors that its finances have a clean bill of health.
A GENERAL mood of “confident satisfaction at a job well done” resonates at City Parks, following its 10th clean audit report.

Jeffrey Cooke is acting City Parks MDGeoffrey Cooke is acting City Parks MDRees Clements, the chief financial officer, says the clean audit report is “extremely important” for City Parks because its shareholders, sponsors and donors in particular, know it has a clean bill of health regarding financial management, position and operations, and that they obtain value for money.

He notes that receiving a 10th clean audit is not an easy feat – and that’s why City Parks is not resting on its laurels. Rather, it is working on sustaining the clean bill of health to archive consistent financial management.

In achieving a clean financial environment, internationally recognised economic and technological trends were followed to ensure that the financial statements conformed with generally accepted accounting principles. For Clements, achieving clean financial management should not be laborious, but should “take as long as ensuring that the right competencies/controls are in place”.

To get a clean audit, City Parks had to adhere to internationally recognised accounting and reporting standards, changing legislation and information technology trends, he says. Generally accepted accounting standards require that every business plans and performs an audit to get reasonable assurance that effective internal financial management is maintained.

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Healthy financials
The clean audit means that the financials of the City-owned entity are healthy and that its financial performance and position is satisfactory. It states that the company’s finances have been scrutinised and no discrepancies have been found with the financial statements or paperwork.

City Parks plans on keeping to the basics of internal control, promoting and encouraging a high performance environment to sustain the momentum, Clements says. “Future challenges for JCP include the audit of non-financial information in an effort to ensure that public sector organisations provide value for money.”

The entity envisions a business environment where clean audit reports are a norm, “an environment where fundamental controls are in place to achieve operational control, compliance to legislation, accountability, reporting and the safeguarding of resources”, he explains.

There are three fundamentals of internal control that need to be in place, including leadership, which provides oversight responsibility, tone at the top and action to mitigate risks. There should be good financial and performance management, good systems, proper record keeping, quality reliable financial and operational information, and continuous monitoring and supervision.

He adds that risk identification, fraud prevention, internal audit and audit committees should be the model of business. “Knowledge is the basis for all action, so make the knowledge management system work for you,” he says.

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