To submit the report of the Audit Manager.
Minutes:
Submitted - the
report of the Audit Manager. On the basis of the work of Internal Audit that
was completed in 2017/18, the officer was satisfied that Gwynedd Council had a
sound framework of internal control.
It
was reported that all audits (58 audits) in the final amended internal audit
plan had been completed by 31 March 2018, which corresponded to 100% of the
plan, against a performance target of 95% for 2017/18.
It
was noted that acceptable action had been taken on 200 out of 222 agreed
actions by 31 March 2018, namely 90.09% of actions against a performance target
of 85%.
Reference
was made to Appendix 4 of the report which noted progress against the Quality
Assurance and Improvement Programme in terms of compliance with Public Sector
Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS). It was noted that an external assessment of
Gwynedd Council's Internal Audit Service would be undertaken by Carmarthenshire
County Council's chief audit executive and that the results of the external
assessment would be submitted to the Committee.
In
response to an enquiry by a member about using traffic light colours for
performance to show an improvement in the annual report, the Audit Manager
stated that performance measures were corporate measures and that they did not
reflect the work of Internal Audit. She explained that performance in terms of
measuring the performance of 'Percentage of audits in the audit plan that are
ready to be presented to the Audit and Governance Committee because they have
either been closed or the final report has been issued' had a consistent target
of 95%.
In
response to an observation by a member regarding the time breakdown of Internal
Audit during 2017/18, the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager explained that all
available days for Internal Audit with seven full time staff members had been
noted in the breakdown. Unproductive time such as annual leave and information
technology difficulties had been removed, thus noting the total productive days
for Internal Audit during 2017/18.
A
member enquired about Internal Audit's staffing situation. In response, the
Audit Manager confirmed that Internal Audit staffing capacity was full. She
explained that one of the reasons why the unit's productive days were lower was
due to three officers following a professional course. She noted that training
was important and that it would benefit the unit in terms of delivering the
work. She informed the Committee that one officer had been nominated as
apprentice of the year which was beneficial for the Internal Audit Service, the
Finance Department and the Council.
The
Head of the Finance Department expressed his gratitude to the Audit Manager for
the report, and reiterated her viewpoint that staff training was important. As
the three officers were training at the same time, he added that the Department
would consider adding a temporary officer to Internal Audit Service staff.
The
Chair expressed the Committee's gratitude to the Audit Manager for her work and
Committee members' best wishes were sent to her father, Councillor Eric M
Jones, following his recent illness.
RESOLVED to accept the report as the formal annual report of the Head of Internal Audit in accordance with the requirements of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards for the 2017/18 financial year.
Supporting documents: