Agenda item

Quarter Three Internal Audit Progress Report 2021-22

Report of the Chief Operating Officer (Section 151 Officer)

Minutes:

The Audit and Procurement Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance, that provided an update on the internal audit activity for the period April to December 2021, against the Internal Audit Plan 2021/22. The report was the second monitoring report for 2021/22 and was presented in order for the Audit and Procurement Committee to discharge its responsibility ‘to consider summaries of specific internal audit reports as requested’ and ‘to consider reports dealing with the management and performance of internal audit’.

 

The report provided information for the period between April and December 2021 about audits finalised including the level of assurance provided, information about the audits currently in progress and a summary of the findings from key audit reports completed.

 

The Chief Internal Auditor reported that a target of completing 90% of the audit programme by the end of the year had been set at the start of the year, although the number of audit days available was affected by staff vacancies. All posts had now been filled and 470 audit days were available for the year.

 

At the end of Quarter 3, 51% of the programme had been completed against the target of 75%. While this was behind the target, the pattern of work and types of audits completed were not equally spread across the year, for example some bigger more complex audits had been started during this quarter. Other pressures on resource had come from the announcement of further Covid grant schemes and the completion of recruitment, which were outside the core audit work. Completing 90% of the audit programme by the end of the year remained the target and at this stage it was anticipated that in excess of 80% of the programme would be delivered.

 

Appendix 1 of the report summarised findings from Key Audit Reports completed between April and December 2021. The audit of Purchasing Card Compliance had focussed on how soft controls impact the behaviour of purchasing card holders and approvers, as in any system with manual controls there is a risk of non-compliance. The audit identified further steps to encourage the right behaviours and strengthen soft controls which would be monitored and reported on.

 

The final follow-up report on St Osburg’s Primary School had identified that only a couple of low-risk issues remained outstanding and would be signed-off. The report provided moderate assurance and that while progress had been made in implementing the actions agreed in the previous follow up audit report, the measures and knowledge that had been developed needed some more time to bed in.

 

In response to questions from Members of the Committee, the Chief Internal Auditor provided the following information and assurance:

 

  This year’s allocation of 470 audit days reflected the newly populated Internal Audit Team Structure. The two assistants were new in their training roles so had not been allocated any audit days during this year but would be built into next year’s programme.

  The structure provided the resources and levels of experience required to return to an increased level of audit days and meet the 90% completion target. Work would also be carried out to ensure that the work of the Team was aligned to the One Coventry Plan.

  While there had been some staff absence related to Covid, this had not had a significant impact on the Team. Covid related absence in the wider organisation had affected capacity in some service areas but this had led to audit work being rescheduled rather than preventing its completion.

  From audit work carried out to date, levels of fraud associated with business rates locally were lower than what had been reported nationally. Pre and post payment work would continue over the next year and would be the subject of reports to government. 

  There was a framework in place for the issue of purchasing cards which had limitations on their availability and guidance for their use. The hospitality policy had been updated to reflect current expectations for appropriate work use and, for example, did allow cards to be used in certain circumstances to provide hospitality outside of the Council House.

  The Council was the accountable body for administering certain funds and as such were subject to Audit sign-off. The Peer-to-Peer Grant, which was linked to Covid Recovery and Brexit, was one such fund included in table 2 of the report. 

 

RESOLVED that the Audit and Procurement Committee notes the performance as at quarter three against the Internal Audit Plan for 2021-22, including the findings of key audit reviews.

Supporting documents: