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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
AUDIT COMMITTEE 
07/05/04 MINUTES 

MINUTES of MEETING of the 
AUDIT COMMITTEE of 

THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
held at Royal Jubilee Arms Hotel, Dykehead 
on 7th May 2004 

Present: 

Eric Baird 
Duncan Bryden 
Sally Dowden 
Sheena Slimon 
Bob Wilson 


In Attendance: 

Jane Hope, Chief Executive 
Andy Rinning, Head of Corporate Services 


Apologies: 

None 


Welcome 

1. Eric Baird welcomed everyone to the meeting. 


Minutes of Last Meeting 

2. The Minutes of the last meeting were approved with no changes. Action Points 7a and 7b 
had been discharged. On Action Point 18a and 18b, Jane Hope reported that further work 
on developing a risk register was likely to be taken forward in conjunction with the newly 
appointed internal auditor (to be discussed under the next item). Action Point 21a and 
21b to be discussed under the next item. 


Report on Appointment of Internal Auditor 

3. Eric Baird gave an oral update on the appointment of the internal auditor. Of the six firms 
invited to bid, three had done so and had been interviewed earlier that week by a panel 
comprising Eric Baird, Sally Dowden and Andy Rinning. The panel had unanimously 
agree that of the three bids, that submitted by Deloitte was the best value for money. All 
three firms were capable of delivering the internal audit function, however Deloitte 
demonstrated the best appreciation of the particular circumstances of the CNPA, they had 
a local presence in Inverness, and had clearly done their homework prior to submitting 
their bid and coming to the interview. In short, Deloitte were the best communicators of 
the three firms, and therefore seemed most likely to work effectively with staff in the 
National Park Authority, and to be able to interact with the Audit Committee. As far as 
fees were concerned, Deloitte had given an initial estimate of the number of hours of 
input and their charging rate per hour. However they would be conducting an initial 
survey of the detailed audit needs of the CNPA, and there therefore might need to be 
some modification to their overall fees for a complete year. However they understood 
very well the need to stay close to the budget originally quoted. 

4. The Audit Committee was content to proceed on the basis of the interview panel's 
recommendation. 

5. Action 

a) Andy Rinning to confirm the appointment of the new internal auditor, and to 
start engaging with them in taking forward the process of putting together an 
internal audit plan. 


Update on Report from External Auditor 

6. Andy Rinning reported that it had been the intention to provide a written report from the 
external auditor for this meeting. However, Audit Scotland had suffered a delay in 
finalising their report, with the result that the draft report had only arrived with the CNPA 
a week previously, too late to circulate to the Audit Committee. Andy Rinning was 
therefore providing an oral update to the Audit Committee with a view to putting the final 
report to the Committee at its next meeting. However, Andy had already met the external 
auditor, Bob Clark, and agreed an action plan that could be incorporated into that final 
report. 

7. In summary, the financial systems within the CNPA were found to be generally 
satisfactory. The report contained seven action points, and Andy Rinning had agreed that 
these were valid and would need action. He reported that two of these had already been 
implemented leaving five still to be actioned. These were relatively minor and would be 
relatively easily dealt with. A copy of the external auditor's report, together with a list of 
these action points and the action taken, would be presented to the next meeting of the 
audit committee on the 13th August. 

8. Action 

a) Andy Rinning to bring to the next meeting of the Audit Committee a copy of 
the external auditor's report for 2003/04 together with a report on the actions 
taken in response to that report. 


AOCB 

9. None 


Date of Next Meeting 

10. 13th August 2004, at Logie Coldstone Hall