8 Z F U Carl i > O H O V J ARE B N L M V310 AR CA TUTORIAL LETTER 1 (ASSIGNMENT 1) - 2020 SECOND SEMESTER PFB101 PUBLIC SECTOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Question 1 (25) Pg 134 Financial management fundamentals involve a "why", a "what" and a "how". Explain each one individually Question 2 (15) The PFMA cautions public servants about improper/inappropriate expenditure. Define the following categories of improper/inappropriate expenditure and provide an own example of each one: Fruitless and wasteful expenditure Irregular expenditure 52 Overspending Unauthorised expenditure Pg 50 Note: You may obtain the "own examples" from appropriate online or other sources, as long as you reference them. Pg 32 6.1 . . . Question 3 [10) Pg 20 Your friend who is a financial journalist for a daily newspaper has been given some of the government's Medium Term Estimates information to write a report about. He asks for your help, saying: "I do not expect you to write everything, Please just give me some pointers, like brief comments or questions I should ask." Using the guiding questions below (as examples), briefly analyse the amounts in the table that follows to assist your friend. Guiding questions/comments: i. What item of expenditure has no direct benefit for the People? ii. Comment on the size of the allocations. II. Which allocation shows the smallest average growth over the three-year period? And the biggest? Note: 1. Do not use all the questions/comments for all the categories. They are only examples to guide you. ii. Feel free to make your own comments. Do not be afraid to include questions which need to be asked, for example: Why has Communication suddenly doubled after two years of the same amount? iii. No more than ten (10) comments or questions are required. iv. Indicate which function is being discussed, for example: Defence, Public Order and Safety increased from 2016 to 2017 and thereafter remained constant, suggesting a reprioritisation of Defence, Public Order and Safety. S Page 2 of Assignment School TUTORIAL LETTER 1 (ASSIGNMENT 1) - 2020 SECOND SEMESTER PFB101 PUBLIC SECTOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Consolidated government expenditure by function Medium Term Estimates Rmillion 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Defence, public order and safety 250 000 300 000 300 000 Police services 96 000 96 000 96 000 Law courts 20 000 30 000 45 000 Prisons 20 000 18 000 16 000 Economic infrastructure 100 000 200 000 300 000 Communication 2 500 2 500 5 000 Fuel and energy 10 000 11 000 12 000 Transport 81 000 82 000 83 000 Education and related functions 200 000 400 000 800 000 Pre-school, primary and secondary 52 000 50 000 48 000 education Health 145 000 146 000 147 000 Consolidated expenditure 976 500 1 335 500 1 952 000 Question 4 (25) 264 The questions below relate to the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP) that every South African municipality should compile and execute. 2.61268 4.1 Provide your overall understanding of the IDP as a strategic plan. P9 263 (10) 4.2. To gain more perspectives on this issue, access Sabinet via MySBS as instructed elsewhere, and then find and read the article by L. Valeta and G.K. Walton entitled "Integrated development planning and budgeting at local government", Journal of Public Administration, Special issue 1, December 2008, pp. 373-384. Answer the following question: mortato What are the authors' views on the sustainability of the IDP? Briefly include their references to an actual South African municipality (10) 4.3. Against the background of questions 4.1 and 4.2 above, provide your own (brief, but sufficient for 5 marks) summary of your impressions of the general usefulness of IDPs as strategic plans and/or whether they proved to be sustainable in most South African municipalities. (Similar impressions from Namibian municipalities may also be used.) You may briefly substantiate your answer with reference to, for example, Auditor- General or other reports. (5) NB: Especially for sub-questions 4.2 and 4.3, marks will not be awarded or will be deducted for too lengthy answers - i.e. not following the question instructions - or clear "copy and paste"/plagiarised answers. ordu, Q 110) pg 301 TUTORIAL LETTER 1 (ASSIGNMENT 1) - 2020 SECOND SEMESTER PFB101 PUBLIC SECTOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Question 5 (25) 305 30 Both questions below relate to the topic "Ethics: Combatting fraud and corruption" 5.1 Identify and briefly describe any five (5) of the typical categories of corruption 5.2 If we accept that the prerequisites for corruption are dishonesty, opportunity and motive, it would make sense that any changes to the measures we use to reduce the incidence of corruption should aim to reduce the existence of these three conditions. The widely applied thinking on this subject suggests the following: The condition of dishonesty is a manifestation of weak values. The condition of opportunity is a product of weak systems. The condition of motive is encouraged by the existence of weak consequences, i.e. lack of sanctions. Describe the issue of weak consequences and include appropriate remedial steps (15) . TOTAL: [100]