Lesotho
Public Financial Management and Accountability Act, 2011
Act 12 of 2011
- Published in Government Gazette 51 on 17 June 2011
- Commenced on 17 June 2011
- [This is the version of this document from 17 June 2011.]
Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title and commencement
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"advance" means repayable funds taken from the Treasury by, or entrusted to, a public officer to meet unforeseen expenses or payments that the Treasury system cannot meet efficiently;"Advisory Division" means the Procurement Policy Advisory Division of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning;"authorising officer" means a Chief Accounting Officer or any other public officer appointed by a Chief Accounting Officer to approve expenditures, but excludes an examining officer;"annual appropriation" means an authorisation by Parliament in the form of an Annual Appropriation Act to spend amounts of public money for specific purposes during a financial year;"budget balance" means the sum of budgeted cash receipts after deducting loans received, principal repayments received and equity transfers from public enterprises less the sum of budgeted cash payments after deducting loans made, principal repayments made and equity transfers to public enterprises and the total of the Contingencies Fund within a financial year;"budget year" means a financial year for which a budget is prepared;"Chief Accounting Officer" means an officer designated by the Minister and who is personally charged with responsibility for financial control over his ministry, department or unit;"Consolidated Fund" means the fund referred to in section 110 of the Constitution;"council funds" means the funds referred to in section 47 of the Local Government Act, 19971 ;"examining officer" means a public officer appointed by a Chief Accounting Officer to certify that the details of a payment are correct and that payment may properly be made;"financial derivative" means a financial instrument or agreement between two parties, that has a value, but the value is based on an expected future price movement of the asset to which it is linked, called the underlying asset;"financial year" means the period commencing 1st April and ending on 31st March of the next year;"Government" means all spending units of the Government of Lesotho and its agencies, but excludes local authorities;"government property" means all assets and goods, other than public money, owned or controlled by Government or its agencies;"internal control" means all the methods and procedures adopted to safeguard the assets of Government and local authorities, to check the accuracy and reliability of accounting information, and to secure compliance with prescribed requirements;"investigative authority" means the Financial Intelligence Unit, Lesotho Mounted Police Service, the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Offences or any other investigative body established by law;"local authority" means an entity constituted under section 4 of the Local Government Act, 1997;"Minister" means the minister responsible for finance;"official bank account" means a bank account established for the deposit, custody and payment of public money for Government or its agencies;"other public funds" means funds belonging to accounting entities separate from the Consolidated Fund, established by or under this or another Act, to account for public money;"performance indicator" means a measure of the achievement of Government objectives;"programme" means a set of activities of a spending unit for the achievement of a common Government objective;"public enterprise" means an entity which—(a)has been established by law to carry out specific commercial activities;(b)is owned and controlled by Government or its agencies; and(c)is a distinct accounting entity producing its own financial statements;"public money" means any money, bank deposit, negotiable instrument, other investment or earnings—(a)in the custody or under the control of Government or a local authority or their agencies; or(b)in the custody or under the control of any person acting for or on behalf of Government or a local authority or their agencies; or(c)held by Government in trust for, or otherwise for the benefit of a person other than Government;"public officer" means a person holding or acting in any public office;"spending unit" means a ministry or other statutory body, or a local authority, charged with the responsibility of administering one or more programmes, to which funding is allocated by Parliament;"statutory body" means an entity which—(a)is established by law to carry out specific Government functions;(b)is owned and controlled by Government; and(c)is a distinct accounting entity producing its own financial statements;"statutory expenditure" means a standing authorisation, established by law, to spend an amount of public money;"supplementary appropriation" means an authorisation by Parliament, in the form of a Supplementary Appropriation Act, to spend a specified amount of public money during a particular financial year;"warrant" means an approval from the Minister to spend public money appropriated by Parliament.3. Application
This Act applies to the Government of Lesotho, including Government spending units, to local authorities and to public enterprises.Part II – Roles and responsibilities
4. Functions of the Minister
The Minister shall—5. Functions of the Chief Accounting Officer
A chief accounting officer shall—6. Delegation
Part III – The budget
7. The budget cycle
8. Budget submissions
9. Review and approval by Cabinet
10. Content of the budget
11. Budget overview
Budget overview information shall include—12. Receipt and expenditure estimates
13. Assets and liabilities information
Assets and liabilities information as referred to under section 10(2)(d) shall include details of—14. Annual Appropriation Act
15. Virement or reallocation
16. Supplementary Appropriation
17. Contingencies Fund
18. Authorisation of expenditure in advance of appropriation
If it appears to the Minister that an Appropriation Act for any financial year will not come into operation by the beginning of the financial year, the Minister may approve withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in accordance with section 113 of the Constitution.19. Statutory expenditure
Part IV – Financial management
20. Oversight
The Minister has responsibility for the management, supervision, control and direction of all matters relating to the financial affairs of Government which are not by law assigned to any other minister or authority.21. Public money
22. Commitments falling due in future years
The Minister may authorise the commitment of public money where payments for that commitment are likely to fall due beyond the budget year.23. Investment of the Consolidated Fund and advances
24. Money held in trust
25. Official bank accounts
26. Receipt of public money
27. Payment of public money
28. Borrowings and guarantees
29. Loans
30. Grants
31. Appropriation for amounts paid into the Consolidated Fund in error
If an amount is paid into the Consolidated Fund in error and there is no appropriation for the repayment, then the amount shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund and shall be payable to the person or entity entitled to it.32. Financial derivatives
A spending unit of Government shall not enter into a transaction in financial derivatives without the prior written approval of the Minister.33. Power to offset amounts
Where an amount of public money is due to a person or other entity, but other money is due and payable to Government by that person or entity, the Minister may deduct the amount owing to Government from the amount payable to the person or entity.Part V – Reporting and audit
34. Spending unit annual report
35. Consolidated financial statements
36. Additional information to be disclosed
The Minister shall provide the following information to accompany consolidated financial statements—37. Presentation to Parliament
38. Internal audit
39. Audit of financial statements of local authorities
The Auditor General shall undertake audit of the financial statements of local authorities.Part VI – Public enterprises
40. Responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer
41. Activities requiring approval
Notwithstanding approvals required under any other act, a public enterprise may not—42. Integration with the government budget process
43. Reports
44. Presentation to Parliament
45. Audit of the financial statements of public enterprises
The Auditor General shall undertake audit of financial statements of public enterprises.Part VII – Procurement and government property
46. Procurement
Part VIII – Loss of public money or government property
47. Usage of terms
In this Part, a reference to "public officer" includes any person who has been a public officer in the past but is not now a public officer.48. Recovery of public money
49. Recovery of the value of government property
50. Write off
Part IX – Procurement Tribunal
51. Establishment
There is established the Procurement Tribunal whose function shall be to hear appeals against the decisions of the Advisory Division established in terms of the Public Procurement Regulations, 20072.52. Membership
53. Tenure of office
54. Remuneration and travel expenses
A member of the Tribunal shall be paid such remuneration by way of fees, allowances and travel allowances as the Minister may, from time to time, determine.55. Secretariat
56. Procedure
57. Decisions of the Tribunal
Part X – Offences and penalties
58. Usage of terms
In this Part, a reference to a "public officer" includes an employee of a local authority and any person who has been a public officer in the past but who is not now a public officer.59. Offences
60. Surcharge
Part XI – Miscellaneous
61. Regulations
The Minister may make regulations for giving effect to this Act.62. Transitional arrangements
Until such time as the Minister, pursuant to section 1 (2), publishes the date of commencement of the accrual basis of accounting, the cash basis of accounting shall remain in operation, and spending units and local authorities shall comply with any directions given by the Minister regarding the form and content of financial statements.63. Repeal
The Finance Act 19884 is repealed.History of this document
17 June 2011 this version
Published in Government Gazette 51
Commenced
Cited documents 0
Documents citing this one 3
Judgment 2
Act 1
1. | Audit Act, 2016 | 1 citation |