The Committee will receive a briefing/training session on how an audit is undertaken.
All Members have been invited to attend for this item.
Minutes:
Members received a Powerpoint presentation from the Auditor on how an audit was undertaken within the Borough Council. A copy of which would be circulated to Councillors.
Councillor Devereux asked what proportion of the Council’s activities did Internal Audit cover and which audits were undertaken by an external organisation? In response, the Auditor explained that specialist audits relating to Health and Safety were undertaken by an External Auditor, however, the Internal Audit Team would receive a copy of the report. Each year the Audit Manager prepared an Audit Plan which would provide a good coverage of the activities which the Council operated. The Committee was advised that the Council had changed the approach to undertaking core audits and had moved towards a key control system which was reviewed on a quarterly basis to allow the Audit Team to be more efficient and free up some resource.
Councillor Chenery asked if when interviewing staff as part of an audit, could the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee be involved. In response, the Audit explained that it would be unlikely to invite Members to be part of the process. The Assistant Director advised that the Internal Audit Team met with officers to provide information on the process and gain an understanding of how the service operated. The Committee was reminded that the Audit Manager presented a summary of reports to Members and all reports were available to view on Insite and any Member cold ask questions.
The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey commented that when Ofsted Inspection took place the Audit Committee looked at the leadership and this could potentially be a role for the Borough Council’s Audit and Risk Committee to look at leadership when in house audits were conducted.
The Auditor advised that the Internal Audit Team took the political dimension into account when carrying out audits.
In response to questions, the Auditor explained that the audit reports were not published on the Council’s website.
Following questions from Councillor Devereux regarding follow up audits and a Central Register to record actions, the Auditor explained that the following up audits and actions were not recorded in a single register, however, each year’s audit plan was held in a central file.
In response to further questions from Councillor Devereux on the standards of internal and external audits, the Auditor explained that he did not have this information to hand but would forward details to the Committee. The Assistant Director added that actions/recommendations relating to health and safety audits were followed up by the Council’s Safety and Welfare Adviser and presented to the Council’s Management Team. Information could be provided to the Committee on the Council’s procedure relating to follow up actions/recommendations.
Councillor Collop commented that the Council had a small Internal Audit team and asked how service areas were prioritised if an audit had not been conducted for a longer period of time. In response, the Auditor explained that the Audit Manager had broadened the coverage of audits to be undertaken each year and would take into account those areas where an audit had not been carried out for a number of years.
In response to a question from the Chairman, Councillor Humphrey, the Auditor explained that in principle internal audit reports were forwarded to the Council’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young. R Murray from Ernst and Young commented that the External Auditors worked to specific audit standards which did not directly rely on Internal Audit, but that Ernst & Young did rely on the Council’s Internal Audit Team to inform them of the risk assessments if there was a concern, which would in turn influence the work undertaken by the External Auditors.
Councillor Collop asked if an unexpected issue cropped up would the Internal Audit Team had sufficient resource to deal with it. In response, the Audit explained that if an unexpected issue arose the Audit Manager would reassess the Audit Plan in order to deal with it. The Audit Manager also informed the Committee that if a particular request was received for an audit to be carried out it would be considered and if appropriate added to the Audit Plan.
The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey thanked the Auditor for an informative presentation.