Agenda item

The Committee received a report on Internal Audit Progress Report Q4 11/12. This report summarised the outcome of work completed to date against the Internal Audit Plan Q4 11/12. The first three audits had been delivered by the previous internal auditors, five reports had been issued to management in draft and a further report had been requested for St. Joseph’s RC High School School. Members were informed that there were seven internal audits in progress. These would be presented at the next meeting of the Audit Committee as final reports.

In the discussion that followed, the Committee noted that the Plan had been organised on a thematic basis, such as procurement. This meant the plan was able to cover multiple Council departments and be modified if a particular area of concern arose. Members and officers also discussed the role of the Audit Commission as external auditors in relation to the internal audit plan. It was noted that the Audit Commission did not mandate internal auditors to carry out work but that its recommendations would often be taken up by internal audit. The Audit Commission’s function was to focus on the accounts of the Authority, whilst internal audit conversely would focus on the authority’s internal systems. It was noted that a key role of internal audit was to pre-emptively address issues which the external auditors may raise.

Resolved – That the report be noted.