4.5.4. Financial Reports and Risk Management As reported in the 2010/11 financial year and prior financial years, the Department's Audit Committee highlighted that the system of internal control applied by the Department over financial risk and risk management was not operating effectively, efficiently or transparently. In addition, as also reported in previous years, the Department's Internal Audit was under-resourced and given its current budget and other operational constraints, it cannot operate optimally in order to address and manage risks that were pertinent to the Department in the absence of a reliable risk assessment with concomitant controls identified to mitigate risks.