Agenda item

Members were requested to view the Internal Audit Section’s Draft Operational Audit Plan for 2019/20.

Key Points:

·         It was noted that internal auditing improved the effectiveness of processes in governance arrangements.

·         The drafting of the plan was discussed with Heads of Services and has also been sent to SRS for their commentary. 

·         There was a lot of background in the report as to how the audit plan was compiled.

·         The 2019/20 operational plan aims to cover the areas stated within the given time allocations, to prioritise and to look at the key risks and provide assurance.

·         It was noted that there were 1258 productive audit days that have been incorporated into the plan with training, annual leave, professional exams etc affecting the overall available audit days.

·          A special allocation was given to special investigations which members of the team may get involved with during the year. 

·         It was commented that more of the audit plan would be reported to the Committee in due course.

·         Page 87 showed the Operational Audit Draft Plan for all service areas with details on specific areas on page 88. Not all areas have been allocated a risk.

·         It was noted that the current draft plan was over allocated so there were not enough resources to cover it at present.

Questions and Discussions:

·         A Member questioned as to whether the Audit Team were ever fully staffed? It was noted that the current situation was not ideal but set targets for 2018/19 at 82% to be achieved was currently on target.

·         It was discussed how the plan could be reprioritised and that higher risks could potentially be chosen. Lower risks could then be moved to next year. Conversations with Heads of Service confirmed things have changed and sometimes it was not effective for an audit to be completed.

·         Another Member had a question in relation to internet banking and the last review on page 88 as to how internet banking was audited?

·         It was discussed how audit were looking at the process of how Newport City Council makes payments, what should be made and how much.

It was confirmed that a small number of payments go through internet banking and there were robust procedures in place for this.  

·         Audit staff numbers were also questioned and whether all the targets would be met due to staff levels? It was discussed how 151 days were allocated for finance but there were no days allocated for Streetscene?

It was observed that that at times auditors in the team had to cover many services and often there were 2 auditors to audit a school etc. It was also commented how there were 180 productive audit days in total for each auditor.

The Chair commented on whether there were enough days allocated for audit. 

It was discussed that follow ups that were planned would not take as much time. In relation to external audit regulatory reviews were already taking place so don’t want to replicate.

It was also discussed how there maybe could be scope for Audit to take on more extra work at some point. It was pointed out that social services were a very large area and there may be budget constraints. Streetscene also needed to be covered in greater depth where specific areas could be looked at.

It was questioned whether there were any new areas on the radar. It was confirmed that there was a review on an annual basis.  The audit plan showed a medium risk for Museum and Galleries and that in 2004 it was not audited which was taken into consideration for the risk assessment.