The Audit and Governance Committee of Herefordshire, County of Council met to discuss several key issues, including the approval of the external auditor's draft annual plan for 2023/24, the council's risk management policy, and the progress on the statutory accounts for 2023/24. The committee also reviewed the internal audit planning paper for 2024/25 and received an update on the internal audit for the fourth quarter of 2023/24.

External Auditor's Draft Annual Plan 2023/24

The committee approved the proposed external audit plan for 2023/24. The Key Audit Partner from Grant Thornton highlighted significant risk areas and the audit approach for both financial statements and the value for money audit. A key risk was identified within Children's Services, following findings from a previous report. The audit work is scheduled to commence in late June, with the aim of issuing an opinion by the end of September. Concerns were raised about the potential challenges due to the Audit Manager's leave of absence, but assurances were given that efforts were being made to resource the position adequately.

The Audit Manager is a fundamental role and an audit cannot be completed without one, noted the Key Audit Partner from Grant Thornton.

Managing Risk Across the Council

The Director of Public Health introduced a report on the council's risk management policy, which was last adopted in 2020. The policy will be reviewed and streamlined to provide more clarity and consensus. The committee noted some shortfalls in the council's approach to risk management and recommended that the process be streamlined to ensure more effective risk management.

The process for managing risk needs to be streamlined and provide better consensus to ensure effective risk management, stated the Director of Public Health.

Statutory Accounts 2023/24 Progress, Accounting Policies and Estimates

The Head of Strategic Finance reported that the council is on target to produce the draft statement of accounts by the statutory deadline of 31 May. No changes were proposed to the accounting policies for 2023/24. The committee reviewed and confirmed that the arrangements for the preparation of the statutory accounts and the accounting policies were satisfactory.

Internal Audit Planning Paper 2024/25

The Director of Continuous Improvement from the South West Audit Partnership introduced a new rolling audit plan approach, which will be a live and continuously updated plan accessible to relevant officers and members. Quarterly update reports will continue to be presented to the committee. The committee approved the rolling audit plan approach.

Internal Audit Update Report Quarter 4 2023/24

The Director of Continuous Improvement provided an update on the internal audit for the fourth quarter of 2023/24. No high organisational risks were identified, and good progress was reported with the audit plan. The committee reviewed the areas of activity and concern and was satisfied with the necessary improvements outlined.

Work Programme

The committee's updated work programme was presented, and future meeting dates and the draft work programme for 2024/25 will be agreed upon at the next meeting on 11 June 2024.

For more details, you can refer to the Minutes of Previous Meeting and the Public reports pack.