The public sector, and government auditing in particular, has undergone radical reforms in recent years and the accountability arrangements in South Africa’s public sector rate amongst the best in the world today. Against the above background, SAIGA identified the need to institute a Research Award which would periodically acknowledge a researcher who has made a substantial and consistent contribution towards government auditing in Southern Africa and the country’s government auditing profession through scholarly endeavours in research and related activities over a sustained period of time. The Award strives to encourage, support and reward independent research, discourse and contributions that advance government auditing and accountability.

The Institute invited nominations from a wide audience, including academics, public sector staff, consultants, researchers and professionals of various professional bodies. After evaluating the submissions, a panel of international experts, comprising of academics and senior government auditors, then made a recommendation to the Council of the Institute, which endorsed the Award Panel’s decision. The nomination of any SAIGA office bearer disqualifies that person from participating in the evaluation process relating to the Award.

A synopsis of the work of the first recipient of the SAIGA Research Award follows: Prof Dieter Gloeck holds a doctorate in Auditing and is registered with numerous professional bodies. He is a Chartered Accountant (SA), a Registered Auditor and Registered Government Auditor (RGA).

He has presented more than 70 papers at local, national and international conferences and events addressing topics on accounting, auditing, public accountability, public sector financial management and educational themes. He is author, co-author and editor of 32 books on professional literature, auditing education and related topics. His publications also include over 360 scientific and semi-scientific articles in the academic, professional and lay press on topics of accounting, auditing and educational matters.

He has been active, serving on many professional bodies including the Public Accountants and Auditors Board, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Southern African Institute of Government Auditors. He is currently the Executive President of SAIGA and serves on numerous committees of the Institute.

Prof Gloeck received the Presidential Award of the Institute of Commercial and Financial Accountants of Southern Africa (now SAIPA) for extraordinary contributions in respect of research and the development of the accounting profession in Southern Africa, as well as the PricewaterhouseCoopers Research Prize for the best article published in the refereed research journal The Southern African Journal of Accountability and Auditing Research (SAJAAR). He is member of the editorial board of various national and international scientific journals.

In receiving the Award, Prof Gloeck pointed out that the advances in accountability in the public sector have to a large extent passed unnoticed, possibly because they were overshadowed by more sensational issues such as public sector fraud and corruption cases, which captured the imagination of both the public and the media. From a research point of view, the greater openness and transparency in the public sector made it far easier to conduct research and obtain information in general to support one’s research findings.

Prof Herman de Jager, Head of the Department of Auditing and editor of the Institute’s accredited journal SAJAAR referred to the pioneering work done by Professor Gloeck in developing a unique qualification for the government auditor and to support this by state-of-the-art research. “Research should be the basis of all professional activities and the government auditing profession has benefited greatly from scholarly activities which also provided the necessary independence.”