Issue - meetings

The Head of Audit and Investigations submitted a report to inform and update Audit Committee on the Annual Internal Audit Report and Audit Opinion for 2017/18 and to give details on the performance of the Internal Audit Team and final outturn position for 2017/18.

Recommended          -           That the report be noted for informational

purposes.

The Head of Audit and Investigations had submitted a report to inform and update Audit Committee on the Annual Internal Audit Report and Audit Opinion for 2017/18 and to give details on the performance of the Internal Audit Team and final outturn position for 2017/18

The HBC Senior Auditor provided a detailed summary to Members and was pleased to report that good levels of internal control were found to be in place and no significant areas of concern were found that could impact on the Council’s Financial Statements.

The Audit Opinion for 2017/18 was classed as ‘’Substantial assurance’ which meant that work undertaken was generally conducted with a sound system of internal control designed to meet the service objectives. The controls in place are generally being applied consistently, however some weaknesses in the design and/or inconsistent application of controls put the achievement of particular objectives at risk.

Each audit report issued was given an audit opinion on the issues identified and reported by internal audit. Table 2 of the report showed the opinions and how many each were issued in 2017/18.

Table 4 of the report detailed performance for 2017/18 together with the two most recent financial years as a comparison.

An amendment would be made to paragraph 3.21 of the report which stated that two audit engagements were almost complete as at 31^st March 2017. The year should state 2018 and the Chair requested that this be changed accordingly.

Target coverage for the 2017/18 Audit Plan was 98% and 94.12% was achieved. Whilst the out-turn figure was not significantly below the actual target, the Head of Audit & Investigations has carried out additional calculations and established that had there been no sickness, special leave, compassionate leave and other leave then the out-turn figure for the year would have been 96.24% which would have been 1.76% below the target coverage. Therefore the 2018/19 Audit Plan coverage target remains at 98%.

Resolved        -           That the report be noted for informational purposes.