Agenda item

(a)       That the report be accepted; and

(b)       That once the allocation of 200 days for investigations had been used, resources should be provided, at the discretion of the Head of Finance, to enable the Audit Plan to be completed.

The Internal Audit Manager presented a report to update on progress of the Internal Audit department.

As agreed at the previous meeting of the Committee, the new report had been divided into five sections to cover previous lengthy reports on Audit Plan, Final Reports, Recommendation Tracking, Performance Indicators and Investigations Progress.  The section on the Audit Plan included adjustments to the Plan after the failure to recruit which had been reported to the Committee in June 2012.  This had been following discussion with the Chief Executive and Head of Finance which had also resulted in the agreement to bring in some resource.

It was reported that due to a major investigation being undertaken, 183 days had been used up until the end of August 2012 out of the allocated 200 days for investigations for the whole of the year.  Although the investigation was still ongoing, it was estimated that around 100 additional days would be required to ensure that obligations were met and that a decision would need to be taken on whether to acquire extra resources or defer more items from the Plan.  The Internal Audit Manager explained the intention for management to review and prioritise work on the Plan and to submit a half-year Plan for approval to the next meeting of the Committee.

Councillor I.B. Roberts proposed that once the total number of days used for investigations extended beyond 200, that additional resources be sought from RSM Tenon Plc to enable the Audit Plan to retain its integrity for the year, as opposed to the deferral of more audits.  The Head of Finance welcomed the support of the Committee but said that officers would need to explore the type of resources required and that this could be from another source.  It was proposed that once the allocation of 200 days had been used, resources should be provided to enable the Audit Plan to be completed at the discretion of the Head of Finance.  This was seconded and agreed.

In response to a question from Councillor R.B. Jones on the cost of extra resources from RSM Tenon Plc, Mr. Patrick Green replied that this would be around £300-350 per day depending on the skills required.

On Recommendation Tracking, the Internal Audit Manager outlined proposed changes to the method used which would allow analysis of reasons given by departments on non-implementation and that future reports would be developed to include this.  On Performance Indicators and in particular the target for client departments, the Chair commented on the Committee’s support of Audit in obtaining responses within 20 days.  She also remarked on work that she had undertaken with the officers to help clarify wording on the report and said that further improvements would be made.

Prior to discussion on investigations, it was explained by the Democracy & Governance Manager that if more detail was required, a decision would need to be made on whether to exclude the press and public from the meeting.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the report be accepted; and

(b)       That once the allocation of 200 days for investigations had been used, resources should be provided, at the discretion of the Head of Finance, to enable the Audit Plan to be completed.