This Guide focuses on the responsibilities the Act places on accounting officers, and does not attempt to spell out the role of the executive authority in any detail. However, several Ministers and MECs have requested advice on the implications of the PFMA for executive authorities, and this chapter provides this information in the broad context of the role of a political head of department.

Scope of the Act

The Act does not legislate the role of the executive authority, nor the relationship between the executive authority and the legislature: it is assumed that these are best dealt with by political processes.

However, PFMA does differentiate between the responsibility of the executive authority for policy and outcomes, and of the accounting officer for achieving outputs and for financial management.

Role of the political head

In general terms, the political head of a department may be expected to fulfil a range of functions including:

- Monthly and quarterly financial reports

- A mid-term performance review

- Progress against the departmental implementation plan for the PFMA

In other cases, the executive authority will report to Cabinet/Exco on matters such as concerns raised by the audit committee or Auditor-General (possibly on the progress of the internal audit unit), or the extent to which audit queries have been addressed.

Contract with accounting officer

The successful implementation of the PFMA in a department is critically dependent on the relationship between the executive authority and the accounting officer. In line with the initiatives of the Department of Public Service and Administration, the PFMA facilitates this relationship by encouraging an explicit performance contract that clearly specifies outputs.

In addition to preparing and monitoring the performance contract, the executive authority must also consider information required in terms of the Act. Much of this information (monthly and annual reports) is basic to helping the executive authority assess the performance of the head of department (this is spelt out in more detail below). The critical challenge facing executive authorities is to complement these statutory reporting requirements with measures and reports (even if only once a year) on service delivery indicators.

Political executive

The role of the executive authority should also be seen in the context of the functioning of Cabinet or a provincial Exco. Such a body may request regular reports for assessing the performance of that Government. For example, the Presidency is considering a system of mid-year reviews for assessing the performance of all national departments.

Relationship with legislature

Another important relationship is between the executive authority and the legislature. At national level, Parliament (through the finance and public accounts committees) requires the national Treasury to report on the implementation of the PFMA, and to produce quarterly reports on progress. Provinces may follow similar practices.

Legal sanctions

While the sanctions in the Act apply mostly to accounting officers, some, such as unauthorised borrowing or the issuing of a guarantee or security, apply to any person (including an executive authority). A guilty person could face a five-year jail sentence.

Statutory obligations

While the Act focuses mostly on the responsibilities of accounting officers, it places some statutory responsibilities on executive authorities. These are described in the following paragraphs and summarised in the table below.

Table 7: Statutory responsibilities of executive authorities

Other implications

In addition to the legal requirements above, the PFMA also implies several other responsibilities, mostly in relation to the interaction with and monitoring of the accounting officer. These are as follows: