Reporting on performance against pre-determined objectives : the case of South African national government departments

Abstract

In South Africa it is a legislated requirement for government departments to report annually on the performance of the entity against predetermined objectives. However, reporting this non-financial information on service delivery performance still proves to be a challenge for many organs of state. The purpose of this paper is to perform an adequacy assessment and compliance analysis of the reporting of performance against pre-determined objectives by national government departments in South Africa. The results of this study clearly indicate that major deficiencies still exist in the reporting on performance information. In this article specific shortcomings were identified and recommendations made.