Agenda item

That the report be noted.

The Internal Audit Manager presented the update report on progress of the Internal Audit department.  He advised that changes had been made to the Audit Plan, however the annual audit opinion could still be provided.  Progress against the Plan would be monitored closely between now and the end of the financial year.  Deferred audits would be considered for inclusion in the next year’s Plan during consultation with Directors and corporate teams.

The Internal Audit Manager spoke of changes in the process of delivering audits to achieve greater efficiency, aided by the completion of pre-audit questionnaires used in scoping work and a debrief meeting at the draft audit report stage which should speed up production of final reports by 20+ days.  Use of the new Audit Report Monitoring System used to issue draft reports and track recommendations had commenced and would enable monitoring by Directors and Corporate Heads.  Members were reminded that final reports were available on request from the Internal Audit Manager who advised that the changes made to the tracking of recommendations had resulted in an improved level of responses.  On performance indicators, he explained that the timing of issuing client satisfaction questionnaires near the end of the quarter meant that the target had not been achieved.  Although there had been an improvement in the days for departments to return draft reports, the Chief Executive felt that the target of 20 days could be reduced.

The Head of Finance pointed out that details on recommendations awaiting implementation were appended to the report and was pleased to note a reduction in the number.  The Chair agreed with her suggestion that this information could be cross-referenced in future reports.  The Chief Executive said it should be noted that some recommendations may be in the process of implementation but not yet completed at the time of reporting.

In response to a comment from Mr. Paul Williams on the number of ‘other’ types of audit shown on the Plan, the Internal Audit Manager explained that this work was based on discussions with management during work carried out on the Audit Plan and that such requests were welcomed by the department.  Following a suggestion, he agreed that on future reports, audits which were deferred, deleted or added would be categorised with the appropriate definition.

In welcoming the improvement in the number of days taken to return draft reports, Councillor Tim Newhouse asked if reports would be finalised in the event of no response from the respective Head.  The Internal Audit Manager stated that this has not yet occurred and that the procedure for a final memo to be issued 2-3 days after agreement on the intended response would serve as a reminder.

The Internal Audit Manager responded to a number of queries on investigations.  In response to a query from Mr. Williams on a new referral which had arisen from a data-matching exercise ‘sweep’ carried out by the National Fraud Initiative, the Head of Finance explained that work was in progress to establish why this had not been identified earlier and that she would report back on the outcome.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.