Agenda item

That the report be noted.

The Head of Finance introduced the report detailing outstanding audit recommendations for Finance and the management of risks prior to implementation.  She explained that the nature of some of the work carried out in Finance meant that this received regular coverage on the Internal Audit Plan for each year.  Assurance was given that the monitoring of actions to address the recommendations had been incorporated into monthly and quarterly performance monitoring and would feed into half-yearly corporate reporting arrangements.

On the summary of recommendations in Appendix 1, the Head of Finance advised that out of 70 recommendations for Finance, 27 were outstanding beyond their originally agreed implementation date, covering six areas of the Finance division.  An additional 8 recommendations for Corporate Grants, arising from a recently issued report, had not yet reached their agreed implementation date of March 2014.  She provided an overview of the reasons for delay in each case as detailed in the report which was cross-referenced with information on the recommendations made by Internal Audit.

In relation to the Medium Term Strategy Audits, Mr. P. Williams questioned the impact of resources on implementing actions and spoke of the need for the Committee to be satisfied as to the adequacy and effective use of resources.  The Chief Executive said that the issues raised in the audit had been overtaken by the updating of the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) which was due to be published later in the week.  This was a fully comprehensive document linked with corporate priorities as set out in the Improvement Plan.  The Improvement Plan would be reported on a six monthly basis to set out progress.  In response to a further question, the Internal Audit Manager confirmed that the validity of outstanding recommendations was verified as part of work on recommendation tracking.

In response to a question on the MTFP from Councillor G.H. Bateman, the Head of Finance said that arrangements had now been put in place to include pressures within the Strategy document, which documented the current practice.

The Chief Executive spoke of the latest refresh of the MTFP which factored in the Council’s key priorities.  Costs of borrowing and Single Status had been built into the Plan which added to the budget gap and were critical pressures.

The Head of Finance said that detail on the Capital Strategy and Programme had been received previously at the Committee.  Since the audit was completed, there had been recognition of the need for a wider corporate approach to the Capital Strategy.  A significant amount of work had been carried out and a decision taken to move the date for producing the Strategy to the end of the financial year as a more meaningful timescale.

Following queries raised on recommendations in Enforcement, the Head of Finance provided an explanation on consistent use of the ‘Masterpiece’ financial ledger which was one of the areas requiring a corporate approach.  The Internal Audit Manager explained that there were some areas where invoices had been raised but not chased up consistently which contributed to delays.  In recovery of debt, the Head of Finance also clarified that assessing the adequacy of current processes for monitoring income collection did not relate to the collection of rent arrears which was dealt with by Housing.  This issue was around the effectiveness of collecting sundry debts owed to the Council.

The Internal Audit Manager commented that having received similar reports on Procurement and Planning, this was the third report to be considered by the Committee in response to concerns raised about outstanding recommendations.  He advised that these were the three main areas of concern in this regard and thanked the Committee for raising the profile, giving assurance that progress would continue to be tracked to the revised implementation dates.

In response to the questions raised on the MTFP and Strategy, the Chief Executive would liaise with the Internal Audit Manager to agree on the reporting of ongoing work about their development to the Audit Committee.

Mr. Williams noted that the report included information on the management of risks prior to implementation which he felt gave assurance to the Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.