The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has decided to carry out post-verification exercises on all the COVID-19 TERS benefit payments paid to companies, employers, and bargaining councils to improve transparency in reporting.
UIF appointed Accounting Village (Pty) Ltd as the auditing firm to conduct the post-verification exercises for an envisaged period of 12 months commencing on the 11th of September 2024.
The purpose of this engagement is to assist the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) in confirming that the intentions of the TERS Benefit Scheme were achieved in that eligible beneficiaries were compensated for loss of income as set out in the COVID-19 TERS directives issued during the National State of Disaster as was occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The objectives for the audit were set out by the UIF to concern:
- Confirming the employment of employees for whom COVID-19 TERS was applied before the National State of Disaster (lockdown).
- Confirming the receipt and accuracy of COVID-19 TERS benefits paid by the fund to the Employer.
- Confirming the validity, accuracy, and completeness of the information submitted to the fund by the employer to determine the COVID-19 TERS benefits paid by the fund and as was required through the application process per the guidelines and the MOA.
- Confirming whether the COVID-19 TERS funds were paid to the beneficiaries for whom COVID-19 TERS benefits were claimed.
- Confirming compliance with the UI and UI Contributions Acts.
To facilitate the performance of the audit, employers are to ensure that the auditors have complete and unhindered access to all necessary premises, persons, and data, including data stored in electronic formats, to efficiently complete their assignment.
The auditing firm will request all supporting and corroborating information related to the application of the COVID-19 TERS benefit, and such should be made available without delay. It is therefore requested that all applicable companies, employers, and bargaining councils immediately prepare and keep the information readily available in either hard or electronic format.
Read the official appointment letter that confirms The Accounting Village (Pty) Ltd appointment with a list of the minimum required documents here. (Please note that the list is not an exhaustive list.)
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