Effective working relationships between audit committees and internal audit—the cornerstone of corporate governance in local authorities, a Welsh perspective

Abstract

This research looks at the working relationship between audit committees and the internal audit function within Welsh local government. The focus is primarily on the working relationship from the perspective of the head of internal audit, also known as the Chief Audit Executive or Chief Internal Auditor [Head of internal audit will be used synonymously with that of Chief Audit Executive and Chief Internal Auditor]. Is it a marriage of convenience or a working relationship where the two can capitalise on what they both bring to the corporate governance arena? Reluctance by local government in Wales to embrace the merits of audit committees in the late 1990s means that local government is playing catch up with other public sector organisations. This in turn affects the recognition of the benefits of an effective audit committee capable of working with the internal audit function to promote sound corporate governance. Published guidelines by the UK public sector accountancy body in 2005 on the implementation of audit committees within local government made those organisations yet to establish an audit committee to rethink the situation, and were encouraged by the seemingly positive benefits of audit committees. Wales was no exception, and the 22 local authorities considered embracing the concept of audit committees. Consequently, this placed the internal audit function and head of internal audit under the spotlight in terms of the expectations of the audit committee members. Audit committees roles and responsibilities mean that they should assist councils and officers to ensure they undertake their responsibilities with probity and effectiveness, especially in respect of financial control. It is imperative that committee chairs and internal audit can function as a working team in order to be effective. Audit Committees have a role to assess the performance of the internal audit function, appoint heads of internal audit, support and promote the audit function within the organisation. It is therefore important that the heads of internal audit have confidence and respect for the audit committee and its chair in terms of the skill and knowledge it has of the audit role in relation to the financial and non-financial aspects of the organisation. Laura Spira (2003) comments on how very little research has been undertaken in relation to the audit committee activities, within the private sector, consequently very little is known about what they actually do, let alone how effective they are in undertaking their role. In a similar vein, the same is true of the public sector audit committee activities, especially when they have tended to adopt the private sector audit committee as a blue print to their own audit committee development.