Derbyshire Audit Services
Issue 6 – Winter 2014/15
AuditMatters
Circulation List
Head Teacher
Governors
Finance Staff
Welcome to the Winter edition of the Derbyshire Audit Services’
newsletter for schools. To ensure that all parties are aware of the
audit matters affecting Derbyshire schools please ensure that this
newsletter is made available to the Chair of the Governing Body,
Chair of the Finance Committee, Head Teacher, Bursar/Finance
Manager and other relevant staff.
Schools Financial Value Standard
As you will be aware, the deadline for submission of your 201415 SFVS return to Audit Services is 31 March 2015. To reiterate
the guidance we gave you in the Autumn newsletter last year,
61 Schools failed to meet this deadline of which 5 Schools failed
to complete their return in time for inclusion in the Authority’s
report to the Department of Education (DfE) and were classed
as non-compliant without exemption. In many instances the
reason for schools late submissions arose from the fact that Full
Governing Body meetings had not been scheduled in a timely
manner to ensure that the SFVS return could be reviewed and
approved prior to the deadline. With this approval requirement
in mind schools are urged to plan ahead now in order to
complete the SFVS return and schedule a meeting of the Full
Governing Body to approve the SFVS submission before the end
of February / beginning of March 2015.
If you have any questions or issues with compliance with the 31
March deadline, please contact Jayne Wallhead as soon as
possible on 01629538826 or [email protected]
Contents
Schools Financial Value Standard 1
Governors’ Expenses
2
Security Marking
2
Audit Opinion
2
Frequent Recommendations
3
New Finance and
Information Systems
3
E-payment Update
3
Anti-Fraud Bulletin
3
Policy Templates
4
Governor Induction Pack
4
Getting in Touch
4
Accommodation for the Audit visit
It would assist the visiting Auditors if an Internet connection could be made available on the day of audit and where possible, access to the
computer suite during the day would be especially helpful. Current Health and Safety advice states that any location provided for the auditors
during their visit should be appropriate for that purpose which includes the provision of full size desks and chairs.
2
Governor’s Expenses Policy Guidance Notes
Security Marking Equipment Under Warranty
New equipment should be checked upon arrival for any
obvious fault. Once the equipment is fully built to the
required specification, the advice received from
Transformation Services is to ensure that the equipment is
in full working order before applying any security marking.
In response to requests from a number of schools,
a draft policy is being prepared which includes
guidance notes and is developed in accordance
with the ‘The School Governance’ (Roles,
Procedures
and
Allowances)
(England)
Regulations 2013. Governing Bodies have the
discretion to pay allowances, from the school’s
delegated budget, to Governors for certain
expenses which they may incur as part of their
approved duties. The new policy will shortly be
published on the Learning in Derbyshire (schools
Extranet) site.
Whilst it is accepted that once security marking has been
applied the warranty may be affected, the risk of this should
be considered against the risk of theft or loss of the device
and potential for recovery.
Audit Opinions
Audit opinions are categorized based upon the level of reliance which the School's Management and Governing Body may draw
relative to the effectiveness of the overall control framework in operation. In summary the assurance levels provided during a
routine audit review are detailed below:
Full Assurance
Substantial
Assurance
Qualified Assurance
Limited Assurance
No Assurance
A sound system of control is in place.
Whilst there is a sound system of control some minor weaknesses have been identified which
may put some area objectives at risk.
Whilst there is basically a sound system of control some critical/high priority
recommendations have been made.
Significant weaknesses have been identified in key areas of the control, which expose the
system/audit area to a high risk of failure and/or reputational risk.
Control has been judged to be weak. Weaknesses have been identified in numerous key areas
rendering the overall system of internal control ineffective and leaving the system/audit area
open to a high risk of error or abuse.
From 2014-15 Schools achieving a Full, Substantial or Qualified Assurance should now expect an Audit review every 4
years, unless selected for the DfE SFVS sample check. For those schools, however, who receive Limited or No
Assurance, Audit Services will plan an annual visit until such time that a Qualified or higher assurance is achieved.
In recognition of sound systems of control within schools, a list of recent Audit reviews which have resulted in a
Substantial assurance being provided are detailed below:

Belmont Primary School

Newhall Infant School

Immaculate Conception Catholic Primary School

Melbourne Junior School
3
Frequent Audit Recommendations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Skills Matrix: Schools should ensure that all governors and staff with
financial management responsibility complete the financial skills
matrices self-assessment available from the Department for Education
website on an annual basis with the results of such self-assessment
reviewed in order to identify and address training requirements.
3 Year Improvement Plan: The School Improvement Plan (SIP) should
be updated on an annual basis to ensure it covers a three year rolling
period in order to ensure there is a clearly evidenced link between the
school’s medium term objectives and the projected financial resources
available at the school.
Return to Work Interviews: Schools should ensure that return to work
interviews are performed with staff returning from all absences arising
from sickness and that such discussions are formally documented. This
will ensure the school can evidence staff returning from sickness
absence are being offered the opportunity to request additional
support where appropriate.
Tenders and Quotes: In accordance with Schools Governor approved
Financial Regulations and Procedures finance staff should ensure that
where the value of purchases exceed the Governor approved
quotation limit three written quotations are obtained and submitted to
Governors for review and approval of the successful supplier. The three
quotations obtained should be retained with the relevant Governors’
minutes in order to evidence the quotations considered. Where it is not
possible to obtain three written quotations (for example if equipment
of a specialized nature is being procured) such restrictions should be
formally reported to Governors and the reason for non-compliance
with the requirement for three written quotations clearly minuted.
Similarly where purchases are made which exceed the Schools
Governor approved tender limit the formal tender procedure should be
strictly adhered to.
Appointment of Staff: Copies of identification documents and
qualifications should be retained, signed and dated by the reviewing
officer to certify that original documents have been presented. Where
electronic or unsigned references are received, the authenticity of
these documents should be verified with the referee and evidence of
this process recorded on the document.
Staff Leavers: A formal process should be in place to record the return
of school property upon an individual leaving the school’s employment.
Creation of a signed returns sheet will evidence that assets held have
been appropriately returned to support the transfer of responsibility.
Debit Cards: In accordance with the Debit Card Policy all debit cards
issued to school staff must be held securely by the individual named on
the card and must not be accessible to any other persons.
Service Level Agreement: SLAs in place with the ICT Technician should
include the following aspects:Expected level of service
Costs of service
Monitoring procedures
Resolution in the event of a dispute
Data Protection assurances
Arrangements for the disposal of obsolete IT equipment.
Anti-Fraud Bulletin
Audit Services regularly produce an AntiFraud Bulletin which identifies potential
frauds and scams which employees
need to be aware of. The January 2015
letter included issues relating to:


Mandate fraud.
Unsolicited invoice scams.
Email scams.
The full bulletin can be viewed at: Anti-fraud Bulletin
E-Payments Update
Schools may be aware of a recent letter
issued by CAYA on the LiD regarding
ParentPay, please follow the link below:
Link to LiD
Finance and Information Systems
It is essential that where a school is
considering the implementation of a
new/updated finance or information
system, this is referred to Audit Services for
review in accordance with the Derbyshire
Scheme for Financing Schools.
The reason for the Audit review is not to
restrict schools from using different
applications but to ensure that the
proposed system is fit for purpose and is
compliant with the Data Protection Act.
4
During the school audit a review of the following documents is conducted to confirm that the school has adequate policies in
place and that once approved by the governors they are made available to staff, contractors and pupils etc. as required. Below is a
list of the policies reviewed during the Audit and where available, a link to the Learning In Derbyshire site/DfE. (Due to the LiD
upgrade some links are under review.)
Policy/Document
Absence Monitoring Policy
Acceptable Use of IT Policy for Pupils
Acceptable Use of IT Policy for Staff
Charging Policy
Code of Conduct for Governors
Code of Conduct for Staff
Confidential Reporting Code
Critical Incident Management Plan
Data Protection Policy
Dinner Money Policy
Financial Regulations & Procedures
Governing Body Induction Pack
Governing Body Terms of Reference
Improvement/Improvement Plan
Information Retention Policy
Instrument of Government
IT Administration Policy/Disaster Recovery Plan
Lettings Policy
Recruitment and Selection Policy
Roles and Responsibilities Document
Terms of reference and Scheme of delegation for subcommittees
Policy Template / Information Location
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
DfE website
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
Derbyshire.Gov
Derbyshire.Gov
DfE website
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
Link to LiD
Governor Induction Pack – Information
The Governor Induction Pack information found at Derbyshire.Gov is a comprehensive list of information a new school
governor may need as reference. Most schools signpost to where these documents can easily be found, or produce a CD containing
the key policies, rather than downloading onto paper format.
The School must evidence that the pack has been issued to new governors either by recording this in minutes of governor meetings
or by separate, signed documentation. Audit Services would also recommend that at the meeting following the issue of the pack it
is also minuted that the new governor has acknowledged the receipt and their understanding of the key policies.
Getting in Touch
Audit staff are always available to provide advice and support. You may contact the Auditor who conducted the audit at
your school or either of the key contacts listed below:
Carl Hardman
Assistant Director of Finance
(Audit)
Jayne Wallhead
Audit Clerk
[email protected]
(01629) 538821
[email protected]
(01629) 538826