17 March 2011 - Audit Scotland

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The Committee agreed that a report outlining the issues and its recommendationsshould be submitted to the Commission.5. Current audit issues in councilsThe Committee considered a report by the Director of Audit Services on current auditissues in councils.During discussion, the Committee noted the following issues and agreed that theyshould be drawn to the attention of the Commission—Councils are aware of the requirements for the introduction of InternationalFinancial Reporting Standards to local government accounts in 2010/11, butprogress on implementation projects has slipped in many cases and is beingmonitored carefully.There is wide variation in the approach taken by councils to exercisingdiscretion (within the limits set by pension schemes) in developing severanceschemes to reduce pay costs.The main benefits of some projects to transfer services to charitable trustshave been in reduced tax liability. The extent to which benefits in moreefficient service delivery have also been secured will be one of the issuesexamined by the forthcoming study in the How Councils Work series on Arms-Length External Organisations.Evidence indicates an increasing trend to consider outsourcing of servicesrather than shared services initiatives.Evidence indicates a number of instances of procurement difficulties. Someissues relating to this are expected to be considered in the forthcomingperformance audit on Commissioning Social Care.The quality and capacity of the internal audit function is an important factor inrelation to a number of the issues raised in this report. It may be appropriateto consider internal audit as the subject for a future study in the How CouncilsWork series.The Committee also noted plans by a number of councils to reduce their workforce,and agreed that it would be useful in future for these figures to be presented as apercentage of a council’s total workforce.6. Any other businessThere was no other business.3
AGENDA ITEM 7Paper: AC.2011.3.3ACCOUNTS COMMISSIONMEETING 17 MARCH 2011REPORT BY THE CONTROLLER OF AUDITUPDATE REPORTIntroduction1. The purpose of this regular report is to provide an update to the Commission to keep itinformed of significant recent activity in relation to the audit of local government.2. It is intended to complement the intelligence reports to the Financial Audit andAssurance Committee, which provide an update on issues arising in local government.The most recent such report was at the Committee meeting of 10 February.Local government issues3. The Commission may wish to note that the shared risk assessment process to updatethe 32 local Assurance and Improvement Plans for 2011/12 – 2013/14 is nearing itsconclusion. The updates assess any new evidence about the council and show wherethe scrutiny risk assessments and the associated scrutiny work set out in the currentAIP have changed. These reports are going through quality and consistency checks andwill be published alongside the existing AIPs on the Commission’s scrutiny improvementpart of the website in due course.4. The scrutiny plans from all 32 updates will be collated to create a revised NationalScrutiny Plan for Local Government 2011/12. This will be submitted to the Commissionand the Local Government Scrutiny Co-ordination Strategic Group shortly and is thenexpected to be published in mid-May with a report detailing the trends in scrutiny activityacross all the scrutiny bodies.5. Valerie Watts, formerly town clerk and chief executive of Derry City Council, has takenup post as chief executive of Aberdeen City Council.6. Alan Blackie, chief executive of East Lothian Council, has announced his intention toretire in August.Parliamentary news7. On 23 February, the Chair of the Accounts Commission and the Controller of Audit gaveevidence to the Local Government and Communities Committee on An overview oflocal government in Scotland 2010. The Committee was interested in topics includingpension liabilities, the role of elected members, key risk areas for local authorities,Shetland Islands Council’s accounts and its charitable trust, reserves, shared services,equal pay, and common good funds.1
Page 1 and 2: The Accounts Commission for Scotlan
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Page 52 and 53: ForewordThe Code of Audit Practice
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have regard to any national priorit
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39. Auditors are required to carry
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Systems of internal controlStatemen
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esponses to developments which may
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work assigned to them in line with
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odies to manage contact appropriate
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110. Exceptionally, Audit Scotland
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Appendix 1Auditors’ statutory dut
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Appendix 2Public rights of inspecti
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Appendix 4Glossary of termsAuditWor
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Statement on internal controlDepend
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Maintaining Scotland’s RoadsThis
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An emergency motion was lodged at t
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Proposal to move fortnightly-paid c
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17 March 2011 - Audit Scotland

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