Prof Lourens Erasmus is a Professor in the Department of Financial Governance in the College of Accounting Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA). He holds a Doctorate in Cost and Management Accounting with specialisation in the public sector and is a C2-rated researcher by the National Research Foundation (NRF). His work spans public-sector financial governance, internal auditing, audit committees, and inter-governmental fiscal relations, and he serves as a Presidentially appointed Commissioner on the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) of South Africa, where the FFC’s role is to guide fair, efficient and equitable distribution of national revenue and to ensure that intergovernmental fiscal arrangements support good governance, service delivery and developmental outcomes.

He is a longstanding academic whose research and teaching focus on improving the performance, accountability and transparency of governmental and public-sector financial structures. His leadership roles include Editor-in-Chief of the Southern African Journal of Accountability and Auditing Research, Associate Editor of the South African Journal of Accounting Research, Chair of the Research Ethics Review Committee for the UNISA College of Accounting Sciences. He is actively engaged with professional bodies and apart from being a member of the Chartered Institute of Government Finance, Audit and Risk Officers (CIGFARO), he serves as Chair of the Education Committee of the Southern African Institute of Government Auditors (SAIGA), and as Treasurer of the Research Ethics Committee Association of South Africa (REASA). His expertise is widely recognised through keynote invitations, guest editorship and research review contributions, including participation in the international expert panel that evaluated the performance of the South African National Space Agency in 2022. He is also an ambassador for the Research Development Academy at UNISA and served as the custodian of the Innovision programme in 2024. Prof Erasmus received numerous research awards at Faculty and Institutional level over the span of his career plus several research grants.

Prof Erasmus has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, conference proceedings and book chapters on topics such as audit committee effectiveness, internal audit function capability, continuous auditing, and digital transformation in auditing and governance in the public sector. His ResearchGate profile indicates his work to be “read” over 25,600 times (November 2025) and his Google Scholar profile indicates almost 650 citations with an h-index of 11 (November 2025). At UNISA he leads postgraduate supervision in public sector financial governance and has successfully supervised 24 masters and PhD candidates. He is the project leader of the registered engaged scholarship projects titled Research on Audit Committees South Africa (RACSA), Continuous Auditing in Public-Sector Internal Auditing (CAPIA), and Public Sector Accounting (PSA).

RACSA graduated several postgraduate students at master’s and PhD level, published several academic articles, and delivered a funded industry report. Prof Erasmus, through RACSA, is also a member of the newly formed consultative work group of the Public Sector Audit Committee forum (PSACF) that is expected to play a vital role in providing professional insights into policy and regulatory issues in respect of the performance of audit committees, as well as the monitoring, evaluation and enforcement measures connected therewith. In addition, this group will provide guidance and assist in capacity building initiatives for audit committees, and matters concerned with the hiring, contracting and remuneration of individuals serving as audit committee members. This group will review and provide valuable input on the frameworks and policies developed.

CAPIA consist of members from five South African universities plus international members from Canada and the Bakirçay University, in Izmir, Türkiye. Of the three PhD students, one student submitted her final thesis at the end of 2025 for examination. A future project that involves the National Treasury and the Rutgers University in the USA is planned that may present more opportunities for prospective PhD studies. CAPIA has, amongst others, published a research book on Continuous Auditing with Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector.

The PSA project signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) with the Accounting Standards Board (ASB), who on their part signed an MOA with the Turkish Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, housed by their Ministry of Treasury and Finance. The project compares the adoption and implementation of public sector accounting standards between the two countries and prospective PhD students are welcome to approach Prof Erasmus for opportunities within this area.

Prof Erasmus can be contacted at:

Prof Lourens J Erasmus, Department of Financial Governance, School of Applied Accountancy, College of Accounting Sciences, University of South Africa

erasmlj1@unisa.ac.za / +27 12 429 8844