Heads of parliamentary committees had sharp words for the Auditor General, Terence Nombembe, on Thursday after he refused to name the government departments that had not been properly managing their finances.

Thulas Nxesi, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, was the first to question why Nombembe was "withholding information" during a briefing on the AG's analysis of financial management in the government.

"Why are you not mentioning these department that are going down, why are you withholding the information," Nxesi asked

"We must know these departments that are moving from bad to worse, otherwise this is not useful."

Nxesi asked if Nombembe was bold enough to say which departments required an investigation and whether certain people had to be charged. "It cannot be that you say some of the recommendations were made two to three years ago but there is no improvement.

"And then you come and make soft recommendations like we have to look at the human resources and so on. At what stage are we going to know about them."

Nombembe's report gave 16 government departments and entities "disclaimers of opinion" which meant that auditors could not obtain adequate supporting documentation for their financial statements.

Another five departments and entities received adverse opinions, which meant that their financial statements were fundamentally incorrect.

On average 50% of the departments reported performance information that was not in compliance with regulatory requirements, while the performance information for 40% of the departments "was not meaningful".

"It is clear that while the trends are slightly positive, the momentum is far too slow and an injection of serious efforts is required if government is to achieve a significant improvement in the next financial year," Nombembe said.

"The challenges are certainly not insurmountable and the move to clear audit opinion is well within the reach of most of the departments and entities within a short period of time."

Lechesa Tsenoli, the chairman of the committee on arts and culture, said Nombembe was not taking Parliament seriously by refusing to reveal the names.

"If you conceal it you are not taking us seriously. If he has completed the work we want it presented here formally. That's all. It gives us good examples of what to follow and what not to follow."

Chairman of committees Obed Baphela said if the information was available "it ought to be presented publicly to the members". "In future when you come here people expect transparency and openness," he said.

Nombembe defended his decision not to name and shame the guilty departments.

"It is deliberate that we are not making the identity of these departments because the posture of this forum is not to talk about the identity," he said.

"Today is dealing about trends that require our collective responsibility. It is about trends we should look out for when we look after our departments.

"I am coming here with the understanding that you know everything that is in your portfolios."