The parliamentary watchdog of public sector accounts has urged government agencies to address "recurring lapses and basic mistakes".

The lapses in three key areas: information technology controls, procurement and contract management, and management of social grant programmes, has been flagged extensively in the Auditor-General's report for the financial year 2018/2019.

In a report released yesterday, the Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises how public funds are spent, asked agencies to fundamentally review their systems and processes. They should cascade lessons learnt across the public sector, and strengthen the competency of supervisors and officers on the ground, it said.