Members Present:
John Turkington (Chair)
In Attendance:
Martin Pitt (Chair Advisory Board - at the invitation of the Chair of ARAC)
Rodney Allen (Chief Operating Officer)
Colette Kane (Director) – agenda item 4
Brian O’Neill (Director)
Ian McCartney – Internal Audit
Brian McFetridge – External Audit
John O’Rourke – External Audit
Louise Donnelly (Committee Secretary)
Apologies:
Marie Mallon
1. Apologies
Apologies were noted from Marie Mallon. All present expressed their sincere condolences to Marie on her family bereavement.
2. Declaration of Conflicts of Interest
There were no issues declared by members.
3. Minutes of previous meeting
Minutes of Meeting held on 3 May 2022 and the Matters Arising were noted as updated
4. Risk Management
Corporate Risk Register
The Corporate Risk Register was presented by Colette Kane, changes were highlighted in red for members’ convenience. Members were advised that since the May ARAC meeting particular consideration has been given to the risk trigger in risk one (Failure to provide timely and high quality outputs to support and promote public sector accountability and improvement). ARAC took assurance that Senior Management Team (SMT) and Operational Management Team (OMT) will continue to keep the inherent assessment under close review in the coming months. Members requested that a detailed update on the public reporting programme and the positon on backlog accounts be provided at the next Board meeting scheduled for October.
Annual Assurance Statement
The assurance statement covering 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 was presented having been agreed by SMT. No near misses or issues were reported for the year. ARAC took assurance from the risk management activities and assurance mechanisms observed throughout the year.
5. Draft Annual Report and Accounts
Brian O’Neill provided an overview to members on the draft annual report and accounts and advised that a copy had been presented to SMT at their meeting last week. Discussion followed on the depth of the content and format of the annual report and accounts. Members were advised that the report content is determined by the Financial Reporting Manual provided by the Department of Finance but NIAO will look for any opportunities to streamline and focus our report.
Brian expressed thanks to the team responsible for the excellent work in preparing the annual report and accounts. Members agreed.
6. Internal Audit Strategy
Annual Assurance Statement (Final)
Ian McCartney advised the overall opinion from RSMUK is that there is a satisfactory system of governance, risk management and control in place, with an overall assessment of “Satisfactory” assurance.
Progress Report
RSMUK reported that NIAO has demonstrated good progress in implementing agreed management actions, ten outstanding follow-up internal audit actions were identified with four now fully implemented, three ongoing and three not yet due for implementation.
Internal Audit Plan 2022-23
The plan presented is the second year of an original three year plan presented in 2021. The following reviews will be carried out in 2022-23:
- Cyber Security
- Business Transformation Programme – Digitalisation
- Governance and Risk Management
- Senior Management Expenses.
The reports were noted by members with no questions or comments recorded.
7. External Audit
Draft report to those charged with governance 2021-22
External audit presented their report summarising the key findings of their audit of the 2021-22 draft Annual Report and Accounts. Brian McFetridge confirmed that the audit was conducted fully in accordance with the Audit Plan presented to ARAC in January 2022.
No internal control issue weaknesses were identified. A recommendation concerning employee annual leave balances was discussed and members were advised by external audit the figure had improved since the drafting of the report and the report would be changed to reflect this update. ARAC accepted the assurances provided in the report.
Report on Financial Impacts
John O’Rourke presented a report on the review of quantified financial impacts for the year ended 31 March 2022, he advised that all impacts had been reviewed individually. The report concluded that the systems NIAO have in place for identifying, agreeing and monitoring the achievement of the financial impacts for 2021-22 continue to be as reliable and robust as is possible. No recommendations were made. Members, while acknowledging the difficulties of providing precise objective estimates, took assurance from the report. A discussion followed on the amount of impact achieved in relation to previous years and the importance also of qualitative impacts. Rodney Allen indicated he thought the time was right to do a strategic review of impacts
.
8. Annual Information and Assurances
Anti-fraud, raising concerns and complaints statement – ARAC noted the number and nature of cases reported.
IT Assurance Statement – ARAC took assurance from the report presented. Discussion followed on the following:
- Mandatory training uptake by staff - members requested a report on compliance by staff for the September ARAC meeting.
- IT service disruption – Members asked if the contract with IT Assist can be reviewed to determine the level of support that will be provided if severe disruption were to occur to IT services. Brian O’Neill agreed to take this forward and provide a report to the September meeting.
Senior Management/NEM Expenses and Hospitality
ARAC approved the disclosure for publication on the NIAO website. Members noted that due to the COVID restrictions in place at the time there was minimal travel and hospitality in the reporting period but members empathised the importance and benefits of getting back to face to face engagement again.
ISQC1 Monitoring and Transparency Reports
ARAC noted the content of the reports and suggested that the presentation of the reports could be improved with the introduction of graphics. Brian O’Neill agreed to explore this further.
Public Reporting – Quality Review Panel
The positive results were noted by members, the findings will be reported in the Annual Report and Accounts.
9. Draft ARAC Annual Report
Brian O’Neill presented a draft report for consideration and advised minor updates were required to finalise the report, no issues or amendments were noted.
10. Report Tracking Implementation of Audit Recommendations
Internal Audit Recommendations
Brian O’Neill advised that five recommendations have been closed since the May 2022 meeting, two recommendations have been partially addressed and three recommendations remain open as they are not yet due for implementation.
External Audit Recommendations
No recommendations were reported outstanding.
11. Fraud, Raising Concerns and Complaints Report
Fraud
Brian O’Neill advised that no new fraud/raising-concerns cases had arisen in the period.
Internal Concerns Raised
There are no ongoing cases and there have been no new cases since the May meeting of ARAC.
Complaints
Members were asked to note the ongoing complaint submitted.
12. AOB
John O’Rourke advised that next year will be the last year of contract for Baker Tilly Mooney Moore providing an External Audit Service to NIAO and as Brian McFetridge and himself were leaving, he advised that Michael Boylan would be attending the remaining ARAC meetings. All present wished both Brian and John well in their new endeavours and the Chair and COO thanked them for their valuable contribution to the Committee.
13. Date of Next Meeting
27 September 2022 @ 11.30am
14. The Committee met with Internal and External Auditors for private discussions.