Local democracy

Agenda item

INTERNAL AUDIT PLAN 2018/19 - MONITORING REPORT AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2018 INCLUDING THE RESPONSE TO THE EXTERNAL REVIEW OF INTERNAL AUDIT

Previous Reference:           Minute 5 (2018/19)

 

The Assistant Director, Finance and Procurement will submit Document “V” which monitors the progress made by Internal Audit against the Internal Audit Plan for 2018/19 as at 30 September 2018.  The report also includes an update on progress made in implementing the recommendations of the external review of Internal Audit.

 

Recommended-

 

That the Committee:

 

·         Takes assurance from the results to date that show that the control environment of the authority is overall satisfactory.

 

·         Endorse the anticipated coverage and changes of Internal Audit work during the year.

 

·         Requires Internal Audit to monitor the control environment and continues to assess areas of control weakness and the ability of management to deliver improvements to the control environment when required.

 

(Mark St Romaine – 01274 432888)

 

 

 

Minutes:

Previous Reference:           Minute 5 (2018/19)

 

The Assistant Director, Finance and Procurement submitted Document “V” which monitored the progress made by Internal Audit against the Internal Audit Plan for 2018/19 as at 30 September 2018.  The report also included an update on progress made in implementing the recommendations of the external review of Internal Audit.

 

One of the key findings of the peer review was to recommend an increase in the staffing levels on the team, and therefore the overall capacity of the audit plan. There had been significant progress in this area with the successful recruitment of four new Senior Auditors to the department.  In order to facilitate the further implementation of the QAIP (Quality Assurance Improvement Plan) a revised Internal Audit Charter would be presented to the Committee on January 24th 2019.  This report would also include the conclusion of the Internal Audit recommendation follow up exercise and would also be reported to the Councils Management Team.

 

It was reported that 39% of the audit plan had been completed so far, with the additional resources in place the audit plan would be 90% complete by the year end.

 

The Assistant Director, Finance and Procurement commended the Head of Internal Audit for the work he had undertaken.

 

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that further information would be provided on direct payments and follow ups at the Committee’s meeting in January 2019.

 

It was reported that the work undertaken by Internal Audit was primarily

concerned with examining risks within various systems of the Council and

making recommendations to mitigate those risks. Consideration was given to

the corporate risk register when the Audit Plan for 2018/19 was drawn up and

any issues on the risk register that related to an individual audit were included

within the scope.

 

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that the key risks

examined in the audits were discussed with management at the start of the

audit and the implementation of recommendations was followed up with

Strategic Directors.

 

Members were informed that MK Insight was an integrated Internal Audit ICT package produced by Morgan Kai that delivered the full range of Internal Audit functionality from planning, to reporting, including time recording and working paper preparation. The Internal Audit Team commenced using MK Insight in January 2017. MK Insight was now used by Audit Management to produce the Internal Audit Plan and by all staff to perform audits, report their findings and deliver the 2018/19 audit plan. 

 

The following up of audit recommendations and the reporting of performance via MK Insight were currently under development.

 

It was reported that the audit work had identified that 79% of controls examined were operating satisfactorily.  All concerns arising from the audit assignments resulted in an audit recommendation.  To date 100% of the audit recommendations had been accepted by management.  This was consistent with the 2017/18 outcome (98%). 

 

 Resolved-

 

That the Committee:

 

·         Takes assurance from the results to date that show that the control environment of the authority is overall satisfactory.

 

·         Endorses the anticipated coverage and changes of Internal Audit work during the year.

 

·         Requires Internal Audit to monitor the control environment and continues to assess areas of control weakness and the ability of management to deliver improvements to the control environment when required.

 

Action:           Assistant Director, Finance and Procurement

Supporting documents: