Agenda item

(To receive a report by Rachel Abbott, Audit Team Leader, which provides an update on internal audit work undertaken in the period 12 January 2017 to 12 March 2017)

Consideration was given to a report which provided an update on internal audit work undertaken in the period of 12 January 2017 to 12 March 2017.  It was reported that Internal Audit had completed 6 final reports in this period, which included 1 school audit, of which they all gained good or substantial assurance.  Two pieces of consultancy work had also been completed.  Members were also advised that eight audits were at a draft stage, with many more in progress, which were detailed in the report.  It was also noted that a full summary of the Audit Plan had been included at Appendix 2 of the report.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Concern was expressed that the actual percentage of draft reports issued within two months of fieldwork commencing (44%) was significantly below target (80%).  Members were advised that there was not one specific reason for this, but many factors had affected this performance.  There had been difficulties in agreeing findings and pulling reports together, some audits had also taken longer than expected.  It was acknowledged that there were some areas where Internal Audit could improve planning and scheduling.  Going forward, the team would be scheduling expected end dates at the start of each audit.

·         It was queried whether there were any staff issues or capacity issues within the team that could be impacting on performance, but members were informed that the team would be fully staffed from May 2017 onwards.  The delays had mainly been around some of the some of the discussions and agreeing the findings with management.  A route cause analysis had been carried and it was found that there were some things which could be done better, such as getting appointments in diaries earlier for senior management.  It was also commented that there was a need for the audit team to be a bit firmer in getting dates finalised to meet with senior managers.  It was requested that the Audit Committee support this process and ask for managers to attend the Committee to give assurance directly if managers are unable to commit to a meeting date with Internal Audit.

·         It was queried what the current position was in relation to Mosaic, and whether the Committee needed to seek any management assurance.  Members were advised that the project was moving into its second phase, and had already gone live, but was not live in terms of the finance modules.  It was reported that Agresso would be subject to a major upgrade in the next six months, and it was felt it may be better to wait until the update had been installed before the finance aspect went live.

·         It was confirmed that where schools were using Agresso, staff would receive training on the new update, which should provide a range of fixes for some of the things which were not currently working well.  Officers had been advised that the new version of Agresso would be more user-friendly.

RESOLVED

            That the outcomes of the Internal Audit work be noted.