Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Payroll and Pensions Manager about the approach taken in response to the External Auditor’s recommendation regarding the risk of fraudulent timesheets (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Payroll and Pensions Manager said that the External Auditor’s recommendation to introduce a list of authorised signatories was not a practical solution ,however, an alternative solution was agreed for implementation by September 2014.

He gave assurances that the current processes in place were adequate as managers are aware of budget expenditure and any suspicious claims could be dealt with.  Plus timesheets are received in the same way each month so it would be difficult to present a fraudulent timesheet.

Members were advised that the way forward is to adopt a similar approach to that used for mileage and expenses claims, through MyView, where a form is submitted after being approved by a manager.

Mr Waddell, Mazars, explained that the opinion given was to highlight the controls in the system but that the risk of material error was non-existent.  He agreed that the online approach, through MyView, was sensible but there would be a weakness if no audit trail was kept.  The Payroll and Pensions Manager advised that electronic data would be retained, as is the practice with mileage and expenses claims.

Members were assured that some periodic verification is carried by Internal Audit.  Members were also concerned about the timeframe for implementing the improvements and asked if the deadline could be brought forward to the beginning of the next financial year.

The Head of Corporate Finance said that there was a major programme underway to drive efficiency through the better use of IT system development.  The need to achieve efficiencies was driving the priority of IT system development.

The Head of Corporate Finance explained that budget managers will check their budgets for any anomalies and that the new budget intelligence module of Oracle will improve the information available to managers to monitor their budget more effectively.

The Chairman suggested that members are given training on the Oracle system so that they have a better understanding and could gain assurance from the processes used.  The Head of Corporate Finance suggested that information could be brought back to a future meeting providing the background on what has been developed and utilised to date.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.