Public Sector

Risk Management Software for the Public Sector

Government departments, municipalities, and public entities operate under a risk framework that is unlike any other sector — accountability to the public, oversight by the Auditor-General, and the legal obligations of the PFMA and MFMA create a compliance environment where inadequate risk management translates directly into qualified audit opinions, unauthorised expenditure findings, and the erosion of public trust.

Dimeri Risk Intelligence Platform✦ AI Active
Risk RegisterControlsIncidentsGovernanceStrategic
2Critical
4High Priority
5Active Risks
75%Avg Control

Risk Heat Map — 5×5 Matrix

← Low   Likelihood   High →

Active Risk Items

CriticalIrregular Expenditure — Procurement Deviation
72%
CriticalAGSA Qualified Opinion Risk — Revenue Recognition
68%
HighCapital Underspending — Infrastructure Programme
75%
AI analysis of the current audit cycle identifies procurement deviations as the highest-risk compliance area — 23% of procurement transactions above R500,000 in the current financial year lack complete deviation justification documentation.

Industry Risk Landscape

Understanding the Risk Environment

Public sector risk management in South Africa is governed by a legislative framework that is more prescriptive than any equivalent in the private sector.

Key risk areas covered

  • PFMA & MFMA Compliance Risk Register
  • AGSA Audit Readiness & Finding Management
  • Procurement & Supply Chain Risk Management
  • Service Delivery & Programme Risk Tracking

Key Frameworks & Standards

PFMAMFMAKing IVISO 31000National Treasury FrameworkAGSA RequirementsPOPIAPublic Procurement Act

See how Dimeri maps your risks to the right frameworks automatically.

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Core Risk Use Cases

Built for How Your Industry Actually Works

PFMA & MFMA Compliance Risk Register

The PFMA and MFMA impose specific obligations that must be documented and monitored on a continuous basis — not only at year-end when the audit cycle begins.

  • Dimeri creates a structured compliance risk register that maps every legislative obligation to its responsible official, evidence requirement, monitoring schedule, and current compliance status.
  • When a compliance deadline approaches or a control weakens — a budget virements not authorised, a supply chain deviation not documented, or a quarterly report not submitted — the accounting officer and relevant delegated official are notified automatically.

AGSA Audit Readiness & Finding Management

AGSA findings — irregular expenditure, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, material misstatements, and internal control deficiencies — are not just audit outcomes; they are indicators of systemic risk management failures that require structured remediation.

  • Dimeri tracks every AGSA finding from the preliminary audit report through to implementation of the corrective action plan and verification of closure.
  • Management responses are linked to specific risk register entries, root cause analyses are captured in structured format, and audit committee members can see the remediation status of every prior year finding.

Procurement & Supply Chain Risk Management

Public sector procurement is one of the most heavily regulated and scrutinised risk areas in any government institution.

  • Deviations from competitive bidding, sole-source awards without documented justification, and contractor performance failures all generate AGSA findings, disciplinary proceedings, and in serious cases, criminal referrals.
  • Dimeri tracks every procurement risk — from bid specification review through supplier selection, contract award, and delivery performance monitoring.

Service Delivery & Programme Risk Tracking

Public sector institutions are accountable not just for financial compliance but for delivering the services and programmes for which they are funded.

  • Capital underspending, infrastructure project delays, grant-funded programme failures, and beneficiary registration backlogs all represent service delivery risks with direct consequences for communities and for the institution's reputation with oversight bodies.
  • Dimeri creates programme-level risk registers that track delivery milestones, expenditure patterns, and output indicators against Annual Performance Plan targets.

Digital Risk Register

Digital Risk Register for Public Sector Institutions

✦ Powered by AI
Risk IDRisk DescriptionOwnerScoreControl %
PS-001Irregular Expenditure — Procurement DeviationCFO19
72%
PS-002AGSA Qualified Opinion Risk — Revenue RecognitionAccounting Officer16
68%
PS-003Capital Underspending — Infrastructure ProgrammeProgramme Manager13
75%
PS-004POPIA Non-Compliance — Beneficiary DataInformation Officer10
83%
PS-005Contractor Non-Performance — Service Level FailureSupply Chain Manager8
79%
AI analysis of the current audit cycle identifies procurement deviations as the highest-risk compliance area — 23% of procurement transactions above R500,000 in the current financial year lack complete deviation justification documentation. This pattern matches the root cause of the irregular expenditure finding in the prior year AGSA report. Recommend immediate review of all open procurement deviations before the preliminary audit report date.

Control & Incident Tracking

Three Lines of Defence — Tracked and Tested

Every risk in your register links to preventive, detective, and corrective controls. Effectiveness percentages update as evidence is logged. Full audit trail for regulators.

Preventive

Procurement Compliance & Delegation Controls

All procurement transactions above delegation thresholds require documented justification, competitive process evidence, and accounting officer approval before award. Deviations from SCM policy require formal deviation approval and are logged automatically in the compliance risk register.

Effectiveness: 86%
Detective

Internal Audit & Compliance Monitoring

Risk-based internal audit programme aligned to the AGSA's key focus areas. Audit findings feed directly into the risk register. Quarterly compliance assessments against PFMA and MFMA requirements, with results reported to the audit committee.

Effectiveness: 82%
Corrective

AGSA Finding Remediation & Root Cause Management

Structured management response and corrective action workflow for every AGSA finding. Root cause analysis required before corrective action is accepted. Implementation tracked to verified closure before the next audit cycle commences.

Effectiveness: 77%

Risk Register Software vs Excel

Why Spreadsheets Fail in This Industry

Spreadsheets cannot handle the complexity, volume, and real-time demands of modern industrial risk management. Here is where they consistently break down — and what Dimeri does instead.

Spreadsheet ProblemDimeri Solution
PFMA compliance obligations tracked in email threads with no systematic monitoring
All legislative obligations mapped to owners with automated monitoring, deadline alerts, and evidence tracking
AGSA findings recorded in a spreadsheet, remediation not systematically tracked to closure
Every finding tracked from management response through corrective action implementation and verified closure
Procurement deviations justified after the fact with no audit trail of approval process
Deviation approval workflow with mandatory justification fields and accounting officer digital sign-off before award
Programme delivery risks monitored only at quarterly performance reviews, too late to intervene
Live programme risk register with milestone tracking and automatic alerts when delivery targets are at risk
Risk register submitted annually to the audit committee with no updates between cycles
Live risk register with real-time scoring updated from compliance data, audit findings, and operational incidents

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions