Publications
Partners
South Africa has 284 municipalities and 37 national government departments, very few of which have chartered accountants.
Patrick Maranya of Saica's standards division said government departments might each need on average at least five chartered accountants.
"They at present have nowhere near that number."
Maranya said increasing the public sector's complement of chartered accountants would mean fewer cases of corruption, theft, fraud and mismanagement.
"Good governance would end up playing a huge role in stamping out corruption."
Various laws require audit committees in the public sector, but there were not enough qualified people to fill these posts.
Maranya said few accountants opted to work in the public sector. There was a misconception that working conditions in the public sector were poor.
This was not so, he said. Benefits included competitive salaries, and being part of a team that managed South Africa's resources.
Maranya said Saica would try to persuade the growing number of prospective chartered accountants to enter the public sector.
Another initiative was to persuade institutions of higher learning to include public sector accounting in their curricula, Business Day reported.
