Agenda item

Internal Audit Progress Report 2020/21

 

The Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Assurance will submit a report providing a summary of the Internal Audit activity completed, and key issues arising from it, for the period 1st July to 15th November, 2020 and providing information regarding the performance of the Internal Audit function during that period.

 

Minutes:

The Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Assurance submitted a report providing a summary of the Internal Audit activity completed, and the key issues arising from it, for the period 1st July to 15th November, 2020 and providing information regarding the performance of the Internal Audit function during that period.

 

The report, which was presented by Mrs S Bradley (Audit Manager), outlined:

 

·         The progress of the Internal Audit Plan delivery up to the 15th November, 2020 analysed by the number of plan assignments producing a report and the audit days delivered by Directorate/Service.  It was reported that 68% of the Internal Audit and Corporate Anti Fraud plans had been delivered.  Including the external clients, the assurance work and the DPO role, 59% of the planned work had been delivered to date

·         The increase in the number of Corporate Directorate Days was as a result of redeployment of staff to support other services during the Covid pandemic.  That currently stood at 32 days for Internal Audit and 75 days for the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team.

·         The increase in the number of days allocated to the Core Directorate was because that included all unplanned Covid 19 related assurance work that covered assurance activity across all Directorates

·         There was a variance of 5 assignments completed against those planned due to the draft reports not yet being discussed and agreed with management although meetings had been scheduled.  A total of 20 final reports had been issued during the period (of which 16 related to Covid-19) with 4 being issued in the previous reporting period.  No major or significant issues had been identified as a result of these reviews

·         Work undertaken in relation to the Covid-19 emergency funding which had resulted in a positive assurance opinion acknowledging that, at that time, the funding was being allocated quickly to support social care, businesses etc. and processes were still being developed

·         The sample testing of expenditure (SAP and procurement cards) gave assurance that the moratorium was being complied with

·         A number of audits had been deferred, added to or deleted from the Audit Plan following DMT meetings, to ensure that Internal Audit resources continued to focus on priority areas (i.e. the impact of Covid 19 had resulted in more Plan changes than previous years)

·         The 20 reports finalised during the period were available upon request.  A summary of assurances and the number and categorisation of recommendations included in the reports was outlined

·         No audit reports had been issued during the period that had a limited or no assurance or negative opinion

·         Details were provided of the outcome of other Internal Audit Activities concluded not producing a specific assurance opinion

·         Information was provided about other Internal Audit work undertaken together with a summary of the current states of all planned work

·         Information was provided on the following up of Internal Audit Report agreed management actions together with a summary of work in progress.  Information on the status of those management actions by directorate/maintained schools due for completion was provided.  It was reported that there were no concerns in relation to this and any changes/delays in timescales were understandably around the pressures of Covid-19 or other priorities

·         Details of Internal Audit performance against Performance Indicators was outlined and everything was on track and positive feedback had been received from clients

·         Based on the audits reported in the period an overall reasonable assurance option was considered to be appropriate

 

A written response to a question asked by a member of the Committee was provided in relation to the increase in Corporate Directorate Days.  As detailed above, it was reported that 32 days had been ‘lost’ to date.  The Corporate Anti-Fraud Team had provided 75 days to the Covid-19 response to date.

 

Flexibility planning and good liaison with Executive Director’s and their Departmental Management Teams had meant a reprioritisation of work, largely in the same way as a ‘normal’ year, but the extent of change was greater.

 

The need for continued liaison would continue through to March 2021 but it was not known at the moment what the impact would be in relation to redeployments.  There had, however, been no major impacts as such, it was a matter or ensuring that assurance was derived from all Internal Audit days whatever they were spend on.

 

CIPFA had issued guidance for Heads of Internal Audit with regard to their annual assurance opinions where, potentially, insufficient work had been undertaken and on how that related to the professional standards.  The view of the Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Assurance was that unless anything changed significantly, he would be able to provide an opinion based on sufficient coverage in breadth and depth across controls, governance and risk.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(i)           that the issues arising from the completed internal audit work for the period along with the responses received from management be noted;

 

(ii)          that the assurance opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Authority’s Internal Control Framework based on the work of Internal Audit in the period to the 15th November, 2020 be noted;

 

(iii)         that the progress against the Internal Audit Plan for 2020/21 for the period to the 15th November, 2020 be noted; and

 

(iv)            that the performance of the Internal Audit Division for the period be noted.

Supporting documents:

 

A - Z Directory