Minutes for Audit Committee meeting, May 19 2009, 2.00PM official page

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 26 March 2009 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

Councillors/Staff to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code of Conduct.

None received.

To answer questions from members of the public – 2 days notice of which must have been given in writing or by electronic mail.

None received.

“That under Section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of part 1 of Schedule 12 (a) of the Act.”

The Internal Audit Manager submitted a report which gave details of the performance of the Internal Audit Section for the quarter ended 31 March 2009.

The level of productive audit time achieved for the quarter was 69.07%, slightly below the planned level of 69.22%.

During the quarter to 31 March 2009, ten final reports had been issued in respect of Carnegie Theatre and Arts Centre, Car Parks, Council Tax, Creditors, Debtors, Housing Benefits – Verification and Calculation, Main Accounting, NNDR, Payroll and Treasury Management.

The following audits were in progress as at 31 March 2009.

Housing Benefits Payments

Cash and Banking

Corporate Governance and Risk Management

Consultancy/project work was being carried out in the following areas:-

National Fraud Initiative

Keswick BIDs

An audit of petty cash was also being undertaken, in addition to a management request to review the Council’s arrangements with the Credit Union.

Members noted that there were a number of outstanding actions which had been drawn to the attention of the interim Chief Executive who was taking immediate action to rectify the situation.

In the course of Members’ questioning, it was noted that

• consultation with the union had delayed one action on travel and subsistence;

• Carnegie Theatre staff were proactive in implementing the agreed actions resulting from this report;

• security measures were in place for the collection of car park cash;

• a review planned for Workington Town Centre would include the multi-storey car park;

• the authorised users for the accountancy system was being regularly updated.

• the transformation group would need to consider the payroll structure, as continuity of management was likely to be an issue in the not too distant future. Mr Kelly, Audit Commission, added that he would have some concern, this being one area where the Audit Commission would always take an interest;

• that while interest rates had dropped, there were good controls in place for treasury management, and that national guidelines for treasury management were to be updated.

Agreed – That the contents of the report be noted.

The Internal Audit Manager submitted a report which sought approval of the Internal Audit Section’s performance and activities for the year 2008/09.

Members considered:-

• Various Issues within the section
• Overall performance against the 2008/09 audit plan;
• Actual performance compared against the sections local performance indicators as illustrated in the Councils performance management system (covalent);
• Internal audit’s assessment of internal controls (which were good);
• Role of the Audit Committee.

Members felt that the service had performed well this year and the overall picture was considerably better than this time last year.

They did question the length of time taken to complete audits against target, and it was explained that the figure took no account of very small overruns (for example 5.1 days instead of 5), nor had any allowance been made of inexperienced staff when setting the target, or of particularly difficult audits which had taken very much longer to complete. Mr Kelly added that this area was not of concern to the Audit Commission.

Agreed – That the report be noted.