Agenda item

The Finance Manager presented their report which explains to Members the Internal Auditors recommendations for block two of the 2025/26 audit and the agreed actions for consideration. 

There were no updates since the report was circulated.

The following areas were discussed by Members:

·         The Finance team were thanked for their report and the work involved.

·         On Page 17 of the report it states that there was a problem in documentation regarding the VAT not being properly recorded. The Finance Manager confirmed that all the recommendations were implemented within a week of the report being published and there is a new form in use to prevent this happening in the future. 

·         Members asked if the level of control referred to on page 17 of the report is an amount of money or process? The Finance Manager and Monitoring Officer explained that the financial thresholds which ran through the entire Standing Orders were quite low and had not been increased for many years; this is a current focus of the Governance Review Working Group, to benchmark and consider the correct thresholds in order to ensure sufficient control for the Authority but also to allow operational freedom for officers. 

·         The Findings paragraph of the report on Page 18 were discussed. It was confirmed that every exemption was scrutinised by the Monitoring Officer and the Chief Financial Officer, and approval was only given when the justification for the exemption was legitimate. It was the sequence of officers placing orders before the official approval had been given in a few of the exemptions that had been highlighted by the auditors and resulted in the recommended actions.

The recommendation as set out in the report was moved, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the internal Audit reports for the two areas covered under Block 2 for 2025/26 Contract Procedural Rules and New Starters and Casual Workers (in appendices 1 and 2 respectively) be received and the proposed actions agreed.

10:31 Nick Adams arrived at the meeting.