Issue - meetings

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Audit Partnership setting out the results of the External Quality Assessment undertaken of the conformance of Mid-Kent Audit to the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) and the action that would be taken to ensure full compliance.  It was noted that:

·  An assessment of Mid-Kent Audit was commissioned from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).  The assessment was carried out in January 2014.

·  The report relating to the assessment was very positive and confirmed that Mid-Kent Audit conformed to 50 of the 56 principles to be achieved and partially conformed to the remaining 6.  There were no “fails”.  This was a considerable achievement in the context of the breadth of the PSIAS and provided a high level of assurance to the Committee that the Council was receiving a very good quality service from Mid-Kent Audit.

·  There were 6 recommendations within the External Quality Assessment report, responses had been prepared by the incoming Head of Audit Partnership, and the actions would be developed during 2014/15.

·  On completion of the necessary actions, the IIA assessment team would be invited back to reassess the position.  Subject to the few partial conformances being addressed, and the IIA verifying that ‘Mid-Kent Audit conforms to the IIA’s professional standards’ and PSIAS, it would then be possible for Internal Audit to make this statement in its reports and promotional literature.  This would be particularly helpful if Mid-Kent Audit was tasked to seek external clients, as it would be possible to use the assessment to evidence the quality of the audit service.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the outcomes of the External Quality Assessment and the actions that will be taken to ensure full conformance with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards be noted; and

(b)  That the Head of Audit Partnership and his team be commended on the results of the External Quality Assessment.