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CIGFARO: Professionalising the Public Sector
Building Trust, Capacity and Development
By Koketso Mamabolo
'Professionalisation is about building trust,” said Wesgro CFO, Sandiso Gcwabe, at the annual Chartered Institute of Government Finance, Audit & Risk Officers (CIGFARO) conference held in Cape Town in late October. He was speaking on a panel discussion which focused on the fundamentals of professionalising the public sector. Trust is an integral part of public service. Whether it be national, provincial or local government, the public needs to be assured that public officials have their best interests at heart. This is why the National Development Plan (NDP) includes an emphasis on the urgent need to professionalise the public sector to meet the needs of the general public.
"Professionalisation of the state’ means that the state employs people who have an ethical disposition and a sense of public service, who are qualified, who know what they are doing, and who are fully equipped to perform their public function with diligence,” states the National school of Government. Sandiso described the dimensions of professionalisation: ability, integrity, dependability and purpose.
With historical imbalances, uneven development and a lack of service delivery, south africa’s approach is a developmental one. and, as highlighted in the NDP, building a strong, capable state is a key step to achieving the nation’s goals. “the main challenge has been unevenness in capacity that leads to uneven performances in local, provincial and national government,” the state noted in the NDP. “this is caused by a complex set of factors, including tensions in the political administrative interface, instability of the administrative leadership, skill deficits, the erosion of accountability and authority, poor organisational design and low morale.”
According to the National school of Government the process of professionalisation has five pillars:
Pre-entry, recruitment and selection.
Induction and onboarding.
Planning and performance management.
Continuous learning and professional development.
Career development and incidents.
The last two in particular - continuous learning and professional development, along with career development and incidents - were the main focus areas of the “Professionalising the Public sector” panel discussion at the CIGFARO conference, which was moderated by Khalid Hamid, International Director of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and accountancy (CIPFA).
In his opening remarks, Khalid explained that good financial management is a prerequisite to good service delivery, specifically at the local government level, where low capacity and outsourcing of financial statements are recurring problems. the National school of Government echoed these sentiments by highlighting the importance of professionalising public financial management.
The National school of Government identified nine key focus areas:
Management accounting (planning and budgeting)
Revenue management
Expenditure management
Asset management (movable and immovable)
Financial accounting
Internal audit
Internal control
Enterprise risk management
Supply chain management
Gathered at CIGFARO’s conference were hundreds of finance professionals from municipalities across the country who were treated to engaging sessions covering the nuts and bolts of public finance management, including addresses from outgoing CIGFARO President, Cheryl Reddy, the Auditor-General’s office, Honourable Thembi Nkadimeng and representatives from SARS. This year’s theme was “Iron sharpens Iron: learning From Best Practices”, pointing to the knowledge sharing which took place over the three days.
Professionalism is at the core of CIGFARO's work, which began over 90 years ago. the organisation provides a framework for what professionalism should look like and works tirelessly to create an ecosystem of good governance and financial management. their initiatives, with conferences merely being one aspect, involve contributing to the development of finance and governance practitioners.
In a nutshell, CIGFARO is at the forefront of the trust-building which Sandiswa Gwabe described. “Of critical importance, as part of the broader project, is how to professionalise public financial management,” says the National school of Government, “where the objective is to achieve better audit outcomes for improved service delivery. this is about strengthening public financial management and leadership through education, training and development.”
To achieve their objectives, CIGFARO works with strategic partners such as National treasury, the South African local Government Association (SALGA), the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA), amongst others, and are the South African Qualifications authority’s recognised body for public sector financial management. CIGFARO has also partnered with CIPFA to offer training and global qualifications in South Africa.
With the commitment of organisations such as CIGFARO and CIPFA, the future of public service looks bright and, as President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in his statement of support in the National Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public sector: “the Public service does not belong to any one party, nor should it be the domain of any particular interest group. It should not be a law unto itself. the Public service belongs to the people of South Africa. It must serve them and them alone.”
