On Board - A guide for Board Members of Public Bodies in Scotland (April 2015)

Internal Audit

In any government related organisation there will be two significant sources of assurance that the Audit Committee can be certain will be present: Internal Audit and External Audit. The work of Internal Audit is carried out primarily for the benefit of the Board and Accountable Officer of the organisation.

Although the work of External Audit is normally primarily conducted for the benefit of the Scottish Parliament, it is still of significant benefit to the organisation as well.

Internal Audit is an internal appraisal service, established by the management of an organisation, to review the internal control system. It objectively examines, evaluates and reports on the adequacy of internal control as a contribution to the proper, economic, efficient and effective use of resources. The scope of the Internal Audit service should be unrestricted across the organisation's operations. The Internal Auditors should have sufficient authority to access assets, records and personnel as necessary for the discharge of their responsibilities.

The work of Internal Audit is likely to be the single most significant resource used by the Audit Committee in discharging its responsibilities. This is because the Head of Internal Audit, in accordance with the Government Internal Audit Standards, has a responsibility to offer an annual opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the organisation's risk management, control and governance processes. There is consequently a major synergy between the purpose of the Head of Internal Audit and the role of the Audit Committee.

The role of the Audit Committee in relation to Internal Audit should include advising the Board and Accountable Officer on:

• The Audit Strategy and periodic Audit Plans, forming a view on how well they support the Head of Internal Audit's responsibility to provide an annual opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the organisation's risk management, control and governance processes;
• The results of Internal Audit work, and management response to issues raised by that work;
• The resourcing of Internal Audit; and
• The Terms of Reference (or equivalent) for Internal Audit.