Issue - meetings

To receive the Internal Audit Charter.

Members considered the Internal Audit Charter.

During the discussion of this item the following points were made:

·         As part of the effectiveness of internal audit external review conducted by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) there were actions identified in relation to amending the Internal Audit Charter to bring it in line with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) that were revised in 2017.

·         Andrew Moulton, Assistant Director Governance brought Members’ attention to changes made:

o   Paragraph 5 – Addition of the Shared Audit and Investigation Service (SAIS) Mission Statement;

o   Para 5 – Clarification that the Assistant Director, Governance performed the Chief Audit Executive function for both Wokingham Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council;

o   Paragraph 18 –Reference to the core principles of internal audit and other mandatory guidance and the replacement of the term ‘board’ with the ‘Audit Committee;’

o   Paragraph 12 – Amendment of the audit charter and the audit protocol between the Shared Audit and Investigation Service and Wokingham Borough Council, to set out the potential impairment to the Chief Audit Executive’s independence and objectivity from directly managing a range of services that the SAIS may review, and how and where the SAIS would report the results of audits carried out in these areas.

·         Councillor Sargeant questioned why reference was not made to Internal Audit’s involvement in code of conduct work.  Andrew Moulton indicated that there was a separate Whistleblowing Policy and other Anti-Fraud policies which were included in the Council’s Constitution.  These were periodically reviewed by the Audit Committee.  However, reference could also be made within the Internal Audit Charter.

RESOLVED:  That the Internal Audit Charter, with the changes highlighted and also discussed at the meeting, be approved.