National Treasury: What's New in the 2026/27 AFS Specimen?

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National Treasury: What's New in the 2026/27 AFS Specimen?

• 09 July 2026
• Miscellaneous
• South African Accounting Academy

Summary:
The Office of the Accountant General in National Treasury has issued a summary of changes and highlights in the newly published 2026/27 Annual Financial Statements (AFS) Specimen.

Article:

This includes a number of important updates to improve clarity, align with recent amendments to the Modified Cash Standard (MCS), and support more consistent financial reporting across departments.

Highlights include:

• Updated accounting policies
• Revised primary statements
• Enhanced disclosure notes
• New disclosure note
  • Note 50 – Departure from the Modified Cash Standard, to be completed only where applicable.

These changes are designed to:

• improve consistency across departmental financial statements;
• align disclosures with the latest MCS requirements;
• strengthen transparency; and
• reduce common reporting issues identified during the preparation and audit of annual financial statements.

All financial statement preparers, reviewers and auditors are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the revised specimen well before the 2026/27 year-end reporting process begins.

Visit the MCS Knowledge Hub - Reporting Specimen and Template to view the latest publication https://lms.treasury.gov.za/mod/resource/view.php?id=1409 

Click here to access the document:

https://lms.treasury.gov.za/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=124 

Relevance to Auditors, Independent Reviewers & Accountants:

• The PFMA is yet another piece of legislation that your relevant national and provincial departmental clients must comply with, and which you must assess compliance with.  If they don’t comply with the relevant laws and regulations, you have certain reporting obligations in terms of NOCLAR (NOn-Compliance with Laws And Regulations) – this could include reporting to management, qualifying your audit opinion, reporting a Reportable Irregularity, etc.
• As an auditor and independent reviewer, you need to consider and assess compliance with the tools available to departments to compile their financial statements as prescribed by National Treasury.

Relevance to Your clients:

• Applies to all departments that uses the Department AFS template.

 

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