This is page 1 of the minutes of the Audit Committee meeting of Hills Shire Council held on 12 December 2016. This is page 2 of the minutes of the Audit Committee meeting of Hills Shire Council held on 12 December 2016. This is page 4 of the minutes of the Audit Committee meeting of The Hills Shire Council held on 12 December 2016.
This is page 5 of the minutes of the Hills Shire Council Audit Committee meeting held on 12th December 2016. The Audit Office will contact the Council if selected for one of the 3 performance audits to be carried out. Our contact details are provided to the General Manager and Council Liaison Officers at the start of the audit.
The Council's General Manager is required to appoint up to two liaison officers to work with the audit team. This is discussed and worked out during the audit planning phase described in Table 1.
ITEM-3 INTERNAL AUDITORS REPORT
The Hills Future - Community Strategic Plan
March 2017
Part A: Executive Summary
Audit Activity to 1 March 2017
For the Information of the Committee
- Governance and Legislative Changes
- External Reviews
Once the final reports are released by the relevant regulatory bodies, they will be sent to the audit committee for information.
Risk Assessment Matrix
- Summary Councils KPI
- Other: Audit Activities undertaken in the period since the last Audit Report to the Audit Committee identified as ‘in progress’ at 15 November
- Status of Recommendations
- Service Delivery Benchmarks
- Cost Control benchmarks
- Key Information to be reported in the Annual Community Report Concerning the Audit Committee
- Legislative Change
- Best Practice
- The Strategic Audit Plan
- Reporting
Reviewed ICAC reports relevant to local government in the period up to the date of the Audit Committee;. The results of this activity will be reported to the Audit Committee as part of the procurement audit planned for 2017. Once the outcome of the external review is known, the recommendations of that review will be followed up by Internal Audit where relevant.
An audit of the achievement of the Council's KPIs will be undertaken separately (as part of the 2017 audit plan). Budget monitoring in relation to procurement will be reviewed in detail as part of the procurement audit planned for 2017. This time was added to the time allocated in the 2017 (Audit Item 23) to enable the more comprehensive review of the Council's purchasing practices. be undertaken.
C3.2 Review of the External WHS Action Plan: This Action Plan has been developed to ensure that Councils' WHS system reflects best practice. The actual internal audit costs to date consist of the salary and expenses of the internal auditor and the risk coordinator. In the period until March 1, 2017, the budget of the internal audit function was not exceeded.
Internal audit's role is primarily one of providing independent assurance on the board's internal controls and risk management framework. Projects can be undertaken with the assistance of the Risk Management Coordinator or specialists where necessary. This provides the board with independent oversight and monitoring of the board's audit processes, including the board's internal control activities.
The current members of the Audit Committee are: Mayor, Clr AJ Hay (OAM), Clr Dr JN Lowe, Clr MG Thomas, Mr Michael Blair, Mr Trevor Bland and Adjunct Professor Jim Taggart (OAM). The functions, powers and responsibilities of the Audit Committee are described in the Charter of the Audit Committee which has been approved by the Council. The internal audit regularly communicates its findings and recommendations to the Audit Committee, the General Manager and the management of the audited areas through the Internal Audit Report.
The format of the report has been changed to satisfy the audit committee's requirements and to reflect the guidelines. Council members and the community have access to the audit committee's minutes (and the internal audit report), as these are published on the council's website.
May 2017
- Audit Activity to 15 May 2017
- External Audit
- Performance Audits Please refer to previous comments (2.1)
- Client Service Plan
- Key Council Documentation
- Local Government Internal Auditors Network (LGIAN) Meeting and Other Governance Activities undertaken in the period
This circular describes the topics of performance audits that will be conducted by the NSW Audit Office. Attached to this circular is a table of the commencement date for each of the Stage 1 amendments to the Local Government Act 1993 introduced by the Local Government (Management and Planning) Amendments 2016 (Stage 1 Amendments). Consolidation of pecuniary interest provisions into a model code of practice for local councils in NSW.
One-off opportunity for prescribed councils to seek Local Government Minister's approval to reduce the minimum number of council meetings to less than 10 councilors per year – reduced number. One-off opportunity for prescribed councils to seek Local Minister's approval to reduce their number of councilors (without a constitutional referendum). In May 2017, the Audit Office forwarded their Customer Service Plan to Council, which outlines the focus of their external 2016/17 financial audit.
Asset management risk and fair value of infrastructure, real estate and equipment. The audit office will focus on management's process for determining and agreeing fair value and the impact of the Council's asset management/maintenance plans on the determination of useful lives. The Audit Office will focus on Councils' systems to accurately and timely capture and record developer input. The Audit Office will review tender procedures to identify potential fairness and related party issues.
The Court will review the Board's related party disclosures to ensure they comply with AASB 124. The focus of the Court's procedures is on year-end testing to ensure that the financial statements of the Council are materially correct. To ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of Internal Audit, the aforementioned Client Service Plan has been compared to the adopted Internal Audit Plan for 2017 to ensure that Internal and External Audit are not reviewing the same audit topics.
This comparison has identified that the audit topic: Procurement and contract management risk is scheduled to be reviewed by both internal and external audit and a potential inefficiency may exist. To ensure that this inefficiency does not exist, Internal Audit will focus on procurements below the tender threshold (not subject to tender). The Hills Shire Plan will be forwarded to the members of the Independent External Audit Committee for their information once finalized.
List of outstanding audit recommendations (including management comments) at the reporting date
- Internal Audit is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organisation’s operations
In her capacity as CEO, Ms. Sharobeem was a government official for the purposes of the. Agree on the organisation's risk appetite and align it with the risk assessment criteria; Implement regular performance measurements and structured risk reporting to enable monitoring of the effectiveness of the risk management framework;
The results of the survey were entered into the Fraud Control Status Check Worksheet (provided as part of the Fraud Control Improvement Kit). This time includes audit report preparation/report completion; discussion of audit findings; and management agreement. In the period until May 15, 2017, the budget of the internal audit function was not exceeded.
At the beginning of each Council term, the Council undertakes an EOI to solicit interests from suitably qualified community members to be part of the Audit. As identified at 3.5 of the DLG Internal Audit Guideline, the Internal Audit function within THSC has a strategic plan in place supported by annual plans. The Council's procedural requirements may not be in place MHR ensures that all Council staff are aware of the requirements of this procedure and that the procedure is implemented.
IT takes steps to remind staff of the Council's requirements regarding passwords and IT security. A list of General Manager and Acting General Managers expenses incurred since the last report on December 12, 2016 will be presented at the Audit Committee meeting.
ITEM-5 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - AUDIT COMMITTEE
ATTACHMENT 1
COUNCILLORS QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE INTERNAL AUDIT MEETING 12 DECEMBER 2016
