The Committee received and considered report 162/07 of the Audit Manager which set out the draft Internal Audit Plan for 2008/09 and sought the Committee's approval. The Plan proposed to achieve 812 days available for planned audit work, representing 71.5% of the chargeable time after deducting leave, public holidays, a contingency for sickness absence, corporate activities, training, and team meetings. This showed an increase over 2007/08 of 530 days and 63% of chargeable time.
The Plan also set a schedule of planned audits for the year. In answer to a question from a Member, it was reported that an audit of the Council's bank reconciliation would be undertaken as part of the General Ledger audit. Members also queried why the number of days allocated to each audit was the same, when some audits were likely to require more work than others. The Audit Manager reported that in the absence of data from previous audits a best guess had been made at how long the average audit would take and it was hoped that the time taken to complete the schedule would balance out over the year. The schedule would be refined next year when more information was available. Members also asked whether Internal Audit used automated flowcharting of processes to assist them in their work. The Audit Manager reported that she was trying to pursue this but did not currently have the capacity to undertake this work.
RESOLVED
that the Internal Audit Plan for 2008/09 be approved.