For Decision

Title: Intern­al Audit Plan ²⁰²³⁄₂₄: Expendit­ure and Creditors

Cov­er Paper pre­pared by: Dav­id Camer­on, Deputy Chief Executive

Report sub­mit­ted by: Eliza­beth Young, Stephanie Hume, Azets

Pur­pose

This paper presents the review of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity approaches to and con­trols in place for man­age­ment of expendit­ure and cred­it­ors. The review has been under­taken as part of the agreed Intern­al Audit Plan for 2023/2024.

Recom­mend­a­tions

The Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee is asked to:

a) Con­sider the intern­al aud­it­ors report and find­ings; b) Endorse the man­age­ment responses to recom­mend­a­tions for future action and sys­tem improvements.

Exec­ut­ive Summary

1. Azets have com­pleted their intern­al audit review of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s con­trols in place for expendit­ure and cred­it­ors management.

2. Three recom­mend­a­tions for action have been high­lighted. One recom­mend­a­tion has a grade 2 ​“yel­low / mod­er­ate” rat­ing, with the remain­ing two recom­mend­a­tions graded 1 ​“green / lim­ited risk expos­ure”. Over­all, the report appears to sig­ni­fy that the Park Author­ity has a good intern­al con­trol sys­tem in place in this area, with some rel­at­ively minor areas for improvement.

3. The recom­mend­a­tions have been accep­ted by man­age­ment and will be worked on over the com­ing months.