Fruitless & Wasteful
Fruitless & Wasteful Expenditure Trend
Five-year trajectory of fruitless and wasteful expenditure across the portfolio.
Is avoidable loss actually falling?
A single year of fruitless and wasteful expenditure says little; the question oversight bodies and the AGSA ask is whether controls are improving over time. This screen plots a five-year trajectory across the portfolio so management can distinguish a genuine downward trend from a fortunate single year. AuditPro Core maintains a consistent multi-year series so the trend reflects real control change, not reclassification.
The Numbers
AuditPro Core renders this view from your tenant's live, tamper-evident records. The figures below are illustrative sample data.
Current year
R5.9 bn
▲ 6%
5-year cumulative
R26.3 bn
Lowest year
R4.1 bn
2021/22
Repeat offenders
118
entities
Fruitless & wasteful by year (R bn)
Year detail
| Year | Amount (R bn) | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 4.1 | ▼ 7% |
| 2022/23 | 5 | ▲ 22% |
| 2023/24 | 5.6 | ▲ 12% |
| 2024/25 | 5.9 | ▲ 6% |
Figures shown are illustrative sample data for demonstration. AuditPro Core renders these views from your own tenant's live, tamper-evident records.
Trend beats snapshot
Year-on-year movement reveals whether preventive controls are taking hold, which a single figure cannot. A sustained decline is the only credible evidence of improvement.
Beware reclassification noise
Apparent movements can be driven by items being reclassified between irregular and fruitless categories rather than by real behaviour change. A consistent classification basis is essential to a meaningful trend.
Inflection points have causes
A sharp change in any year usually maps to a specific event, a system change, a leadership change or a one-off loss. Annotating inflections turns a line into an explanation.
Trend feeds the audit narrative
A demonstrable downward trend supports management's representation that controls are improving. The AGSA weighs trend, not just level, when assessing consequence management.
How AuditPro Core Bridges the Gap
- Consistent series: a stable multi-year basis prevents reclassification from masquerading as improvement.
- Continuous monitoring: the current year is tracked against trend in-period, not only at year-end.
- Traceability: any inflection drills to the items and events behind it.
- Audit-ready export: the trend exports to support the control-improvement narrative for the AGSA.
Key Takeaways
- Only a sustained trend evidences real improvement.
- Hold classification constant or the trend lies.
- Annotate inflection points with their cause.
- Trend, not level, drives the consequence-management story.
See This on Your Own Data
AuditPro Core renders this dashboard from your tenant's live, tamper-evident records — every figure traceable to source.