M. Tech. Business Administration / Since 1994, South African local government has undergone significant financial reforms. Recently reform implementation has been focused on the budgeting and financial affairs of municipalities with the promulgation of the Municipal Budget and Reporting Regulations. Objectives included the modernisation of the financial planning and budgeting processes of municipalities in achieving higher levels of accountability, transparency, and appropriate lines of responsibility within the local government accountability cycle. Among other dimensions of financial planning, this reform introduced cash flow forecasting as a management tool in ensuring the budget is appropriately funded, resulting in implementation as planned. Notwithstanding these objectives, municipalities continuously face cash and liquidity challenges questioning the effectiveness of these reform efforts. The methodology incorporated a variance analysis of the budget as planned versus implementation, and a performance 'trend' instrument similar to a Likert scale for comparing municipal performance of six metropolitan municipalities. A general questionnaire was circulated to municipal finance practitioners in testing their opinion and attitude towards cash flow forecasting. The research is concluded with a structured interview with chief financial officers. The research finds that, although improvements can be observed, they have been at a slow and low-key pace owing to capacity limitations, an instrumentalist approach to reform implementation and the significant rate of change associated with the reform roadmap.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001223 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Stroud, Carl William. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format |
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