IRREGULAR EXPENDITURE
Did auditors turn blind eye at Eskom?
In looking back six years, Eskom has uncovered R19.6bn in irregular expenditure. Many board members, committee members and executives churned through the troubled institution over this time, while the auditors signed off on the financials year in and out. But it’s anyone’s guess who will pay back the money. As Eskom executives noted at its results presentation last week, irregular expenditure is not the same as fruitless and wasteful spending, and it was not to say that the utility derived no value from the deals in question. Treasury guidelines dictate that the accounting officer can request an official responsible for irregular spend to pay the money back; can take the matter to the state attorney; or, if unrecoverable, can write the debt off. But Iraj Abedian, economist and adviser to both private and public sector institutions, says blame needs to be shared among executives, the internal audit division and the external auditors. "The reality is that such colossal plundering can ...
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