The Effectiveness of Internal Audit in Central Government: HM Treasury

HC 23, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Session 2012-13

Author:

National Audit Office (NAO)

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

Price: £16.00

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'The Effectiveness of Internal Audit in Central Government: HM Treasury (HC 23)' examines the effectiveness of internal audit in central Government, covering both main departments and their associated arm's length bodies.

Government is not getting the most out of the £70 million it spends on internal audit because the service does not always focus on the right issues, and it is often not of sufficient quality to be useful in decision-making.

84% of respondents to an NAO consultation considered internal audit added some or substantial value to their organisation, but had concerns over the current depth of insight, relevance and underlying execution of internal audit work.

Many key stakeholders believe that internal audit work is not sufficiently tailored to be relevant to the different issues facing individual organisations. Treasury guidance on what internal audit should deliver is not sufficiently specific and there is little consistency in the application of standards. Variations in quality and coverage mean that the NAO are often unable to take assurance from internal audit work.

There are specific areas where internal audit could be more effective:

• the usefulness and relevance of reports;

• the expertise of staff, including expertise on IT-based information systems;

• the identification of efficiencies in the organisation; and

• the ability to offer advice to senior management.

HM Treasury's Internal Audit Transformation Programme is a partial solution to the issues identified by the NAO, but more detail is needed on what should be expected of an effective internal audit service.

Extent	29 pages	ISBN	9780102977172
Size	A4	Price	£16.00
Format	Paperback	Published	20 Jun 2012
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges