Espousal of combined assurance model in South Africa’s public sector

The study seeks to examine the espousal of the combined assurance model in South Africa’s public sector, since there is not solitary autonomous unit that offers assurance in seclusion but various units add to the assurance progression. The study is grounded on stewardship theory in which various concepts of stewardship imply it to be a function of governments’ accountability for the wellbeing of citizens. This research study followed a qualitative research approach in which data were analyzed qualitatively based on an interpretative philosophy which examined meaningful and symbolic content of qualitative data from general reports on the provincial audit outcomes for the period (2014-2015). It was concluded that the level of appreciation of the combined assurance model and assurance provision in South African public sector is commendable, although there is still a need to improve and fully implement the model so as to attain good governance through stewardship advance. To that end, the governing body in South Africa’s public sector needs to augment its monitoring of harmonized and all inclusive approach in internal control systems, risk management and compliance issues. This serves in the best legitimate interests and expectations of the “inclusive stakeholders” via embracing of stewardship approach.

Keywords: combined assurance, public sector, stewardship, Auditor General.
JEL Classification: E61, H20