The Role of Council Committees in Promoting Financial Accountability

Abstract

Financial accountability in municipalities is a critical aspect of municipal fiscal governance. It constitutes one of the fundamental roles exercised by the municipal council to ensure effective and efficient utilization of financial resources. Non-executive councilors organised through council committees are expected to shoulder the responsibility of exercising financial accountability. The Audit Committee is one of the committees established by municipal council to assist in holding the executive accountable for the manner in which municipal financial resources are managed.  These committees are created through various legislative regimes and municipal council Rules of Order.  The oversight committees had different outcomes with regard to financial accountability in different municipalities. The results of this research suggest that these committees they have not been very effective in exercising their responsibilities. The factors that contribute to accountability, transparency and regularity to ensure the effective functioning of these committees were explored.  Therefore, the following research question was posed to guide this research.

1. What are the major underlying causes that contribute to financial accountability at the local level?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of council committees and how they could contribute towards the strengthening of financial accountability?

The Stellenbosch Municipality was used as a case study to explore the role of council committees in exercising financial accountability. The research findings revealed that there is need to establish a culture of openness, transparency and accountability.  Equally, the council committees must be empowered with the necessary authority and capacity to enable them to discharge their accountability function.

Key Words: Municipal Council Committees, Financial accountability, Legislative Authority, Executive Authority, Budget process and Municipal Administration.

DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/10-8-08

Publication date:August 31^st 2020