Plumpton College
Minutes of the Audit Committee meeting
held on Tuesday 22nd November 2011
Present:
Mike Atkinson
David Evans
Stan Stanier
Geoff Miller
- Governor / Chair
- Governor
- Governor
- Co-opted member
In attendance:
Michelle Garvey
Des Lambert
Val Wilkinson
Geoff Gregory
Danny Simpson
Jonathan Ericson
- Clerk to the Corporation
- Principal
- Director of Finance
- Deputy Principal (Resources)
- ESCC Internal Audit Service
- Baker Tilly
Apologies:
Dominic Blythe
Nigel Chilcott
- Baker Tilly
- ESCC Internal Audit Service
Meeting commenced: 4.20pm
Minute
Item
Ac/11/29
Action by
whom
Action
by
when
External Audit Report
Jonathan Ericson presented Baker Tilly’s audit findings. It was
flagged that the College’s current net liability position was £0.7m
and along with continued expected funding reductions meant
there is a greater risk with the going concern status of the
College, but that as auditors they have not seen any evidence
that leads them to disagree with management assessment that
the College is a going concern.
Baker Tilly has recommended that the payment for the Wales
Centre in agreement with National Trust be separately disclosed
as a leasehold improvement and confirmed that Management
have accepted this adjustment. It was highlighted that there a risk
of liability for the premises repairs during the contract. David
Evans confirmed that he had visited the premises and that in his
opinion there were no obvious concerns.
Jonathan Ericson stated that Baker Tilly has not reviewed the
members report but will do so when it is available.
The Chair queried the deadline for SFA final accounts and it was
confirmed as 30th December 2011.
The Chair confirmed that three sections of the Annual Report
have been drafted and reviewed. The remaining sections will be
circulated as soon as possible to the Committee, prior to being
reviewed by Corporation. The Principal explained that the College
will be publishing an annual review (small glossy booklet) in
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2011
addition to a more concise annual report.
Jonathan Ericson confirmed that there are some changes that still
need to be made to the draft financial statements in the report.
Val Wilkinson has agreed to accept the recommendations.
Jonathan Ericson confirmed that the audit has gone well and
offered thanks to Val and the Finance Team for their assistance.
He went on to state that the fees are as per the plan and that
under the LSC audit code the audit partners have to change every
7 years but this is being reviewed. It was noted that Baker Tilly
have been the College’s auditors and Jonathan the Audit Partner
for 5 years. The management letter was included in the report,
which also confirmed that the College has a clean bill of health.
The Chair congratulated the Finance Team and confirmed that
Baker Tilly will be kept informed of the progress on the FMCE
inspection.
The Regularity Self Assessment was discussed; Val Wilkinson
confirmed that the questionnaire had been prepared in time for
the College audit as required by Baker Tilly each year. The
questionnaire will to be circulated to the Committee as per the
requirements for the audit regulations. The Committee was
requested to send comments to the Clerk and copy in the
Principal and Val Wilkinson.
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JE
Dec
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The Chair stated that a paper from DTS on financial support was
required.
DTS
Feb
2011
The Committee agreed that the Chair could sign the minutes off
when amended.
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2011
VW/DPL/
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The Chair thanked Jonathan Ericson. A revised report will be
circulated.
Ac/11/30
Minutes of the meeting held on 22nd September 2011
The Chair requested an amendment on page 3. The Principal
suggested that ‘discounts’ is the incorrect word in relation to fees,
the Committee agreed to the term ‘income forgone’.
Ac/11/31
Matters Arising
Ac/11/17: The Chair confirmed that a timetable for the draft
Annual Report is required. The Principal confirmed that the
Annual Report was currently being worked on work and that it
was expected that the final version will be taken to Corporation on
6 December 2011.
The Chair requested that the Regularity Report be circulated to
the Committee.
Ac/11/23: The Principal confirmed that the Bribery Act Policy has
been communicated to the staff.
Ac/11/21: The Committee agreed that tuition fees are to remain
on matters arising
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DS
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2011
The Chair queried why the HE income was being included in the
management reponse to the Tution Fees audit. Val Wilkinson
suggested that the College does a sample audit on the FE fees
but a full reconciliation of the HE fees due to their higher value
and therefore higher risk. The Chair proposed to allow for a
further internal audit review next year. The Chair also questioned
if 14-16 student fees were being audited, Val Wilkinson confirmed
that they were not as a low risk area.
Ac/11/26: The Chair thanked the Committee for their comments
on the draft sections of the Audit Committee Annual Report and
amended as appropriate. The final versions were sent to
Corporation and approved.
Ac/11/32
Internal Audit Plan
Danny Simpson confirmed that the document is a draft. The Chair
confirmed that changes were required, for example CRB checks
and Direct Debits have been added and recruitment and Equine
requirements have been removed. Some typing errors were also
noted.
The Principal flagged that risk management had been previously
included in the audit plan to ensure that the College was on track
for an Ofsted inspection and suggested that this area is no longer
an audit priority. The Chair agreed and Danny Simpson confirmed
that as ESCC are still at the planning stage of the audit, it would
not be onerous to change. The Committee discussed the risk of
safeguarding and queried whether it is an audit area in its own
right. The Principal confirmed that the Ofsted inspection was very
thorough with safeguarding and argued that a further audit would
not be of any value to the College. After a discussion the
Committee agreed that a safeguarding audit was not necessary
and that previously allocated Ofsted related audit time could be
put to better use in higher risk areas of the College. It was agreed
that the Equine audit could be included in this year’s plan and that
governance and risk aspects of the audit plan would be reduced.
The Internal Audit Plan will remain at 22 days. A debate took
place regarding the Catering audit and it was decided to keep to
the agreed time scale of 5 days but this may be reduced should
the need arise.
The Committee challenged the decision to remove the risk
management and coprporate governance audits as they are
mandatory. The Chair confirmed that the College can decide how
to approach risk and governance after the SFA inspection and
that it can be argued that it is good practice to focus on any
problem areas or emerging risks from the feedback. Danny
Simpson flagged that ESCC might not be able to carry out any
auditing activities on the Equine Department before next meeting.
Ac/11/33
ESCC Contract
The Chair confirmed that there have been no developments as
the College is still waiting for a response from the SFA regarding
LSC joint audit code of practice. It is hoped that there might be an
indication by December 2011/January 2012. The Chair confirmed
that some areas may require an internal audit next year
regardless. The Principal agreed the College needs to be flexible
and the Committee agreed. The Chair confirmed that the College
should focus on emerging risks.
Ac/11/34
Financial Management and Control Evaluation (FMCE) Return
The Chair introduced the FMCE audit and confirmed that the
FMCE/SFA auditors are currently carrying out their inspection.
The most recent version of the FMCE return was tabled due to
some small amendments being identified by the auditors. The
Principal stressed that in the normal timetable the Committee
would have approved the FMCE prior to it being submitted but
due to the current audit it was not possible.
The Chair noted the timing constraints and that the auditors were
aware that the return had not yet been approved by the
Committee. The Chair asked the Committee to confirm that they
were happy with the gradings. The Chair suggested that the
College then use this FMCE return as the starting point for next
year’s return with the additional comments from the meeting.
Val Wilkinson confirmed that most of amendments were based on
discussions with the auditors and were generally highlighting
evidence on areas where the College is graded outstanding. The
Chair confirmed that he had met with auditors prior to the
Committee.
The Chair invited Val Wilkinson to discuss the return and she
summarised the document, identifying where individual grades
had improved. It was highlighted that the sub contracting
(education) section has improved from satisfactory to good and
that short term planning and financial monitoring were now rated
as outstanding, with confidence gained from the internal auditors
opinion of Full Assurance last year. The Committee confirmed
that they were comfortable to endorse the grades and action plan
and for the return to go to the auditors. Val Wilkinson stressed
that the College’s bank has stated that in their view we have
outstanding financial management including the collaborative
working between SMT and Governors.
The Chair stated that the Committee are happy to endorse grades
but the College needs to continue to improve as per the
Committees’ requirements. It was confirmed that the return gives
the Committee confidence. Val Wilkinson stressed that robust
challenge is an essential part of continuous improvement.
The Principal highlighted that the FMCE audit has been a large
amount of work and thanked Val Wilkinson and Michelle Garvey
for their input.
The Principal left the meeting at 5.20pm.
A query was raised regarding the cost of the new MIS system that
was mentioned in the return, it was confirmed that this is an issue
for the Finance and General Purposes Committee to raise.
Further questions were raised regarding the system and it was
confirmed that Finance and MIS will be reviewing the options.
Stan Stanier was invited to join the project group due to his
expertise in the area.
A number of amendments were noted and will be included in an
annex to these minutes.
After a discussion the Committee noted that sub-contracting is a
potentially high risk area and felt that it should be audited next
year. Val Wilkinson to speak to the Principal regarding including
sub-contracting in the action plan.
Ac/11/35
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GJG
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2011
Rolling Review of Audit Recommendations
Val Wilkinson introduced the document. The Chair confirmed that
the document could be clearer and suggested that an additional
column of when items are discussed by the Committee including
a revised date of completion was added to the document. Val
Wilkinson suggested that where the Committee is satisfied that
the College is actioning some items correctly, they can be
removed off the review as no longer relevant to the Committee.
The Committee agreed with this suggestion in principle but stated
that further discussion may be required
Val suggested that the financial regulations are reviewed at the
March meeting of the year plus on a rolling review basis. The
Committee agreed.
The Chair requested that the retention schedule action on the
Rolling Review be postponed at present until more detailed
information regarding changes to regulations are available. It was
confirmed that an additional section is being added to the Risk
Register regarding contingent risk i.e. documents going missing.
A query was regarding the length of the lease on the Wales
centre was raised. It was confirmed that it has 30 years remaining
on the lease.
Ac/11/36
Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 6 March 2012
The meeting closed at 6.11pm.
MG 02.12.11
Signed…………………………………… (Chairman) Dated……………………