Issue - meetings

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Audit Partnership setting out details of the work of the Internal Audit Team over the six month period April-September 2012.  It was noted that:-

·  Eleven planned audit projects had been completed during the six month period.  In addition, a number of other pieces of consultancy/investigative work had been carried out.  No audit projects completed during the period identified areas as having “limited” or “minimal” control assurance in place.

·  The output of the Team during the first six months of the year was always substantially lower than for the second half year.  This was because April was used to finalise and issue reports for work which had been carried out in the previous financial year and because audit staff tended to take much of their annual leave during the first half year, thereby reducing the number of productive days for that period.  It was anticipated that annual targets for output would be met by the end of the financial year.

·  A follow-up to each report was completed, usually three to six months after the date of issue of each original report.  The follow-up allowed the adequacy of controls to be re-assessed, and Management was expected to have taken the necessary action to address the control weaknesses before the follow-up was undertaken.  All of the follow-ups confirmed that control assurance had either been maintained or increased since the original audit.

·  No significant control weakness had been identified that needed to be brought to the attention of the Committee.

In response to questions by Members, the Audit Manager confirmed that the emphasis during the second part of the year would be on delivering the remainder of the audit plan, and the need to use the salaries budget to deploy additional staff to achieve this target would be kept under review.

RESOLVED:

1.  That the results of the work of the Internal Audit Team over the period April-September 2012, as set out in the report of the Head of Audit Partnership, be noted.

2.  That the Committee agrees that the audit process is working effectively and that management is taking the necessary action to implement agreed audit recommendations.