Annual Reports and Accounts
Letter from the Chair to the Auditor General for Scotland, 6 September 2021
Dear Auditor General
Thank you to you and your colleagues for providing evidence to the Scottish Commission for Public Audit (SCPA) on 1 September. At that meeting the Commission considered the Session 5 SCPA legacy report and noted that Audit Scotland had agreed to come back to the SCPA on what changes are proposed to its property strategy, once its considerations are complete. The SCPA therefore agree to seek an update on the proposed timetable for completing such considerations.
In addition, as I indicated at the meeting there are a number of areas where I would welcome further clarification and I have set those out below:
- In relation to the National Fraud Initiative, whether this should be extended to other bodies and if so, what the impact of Audit Scotland’s resources might be.
- Pension liabilities can fluctuate each year (sometimes significantly) – what assessment has Audit Scotland made of the level of pension liabilities which might be incurred in the next financial year and what discussions does it have with the Scottish Government about this issue.
- What is the rationale behind the pension liability for former Local Government Ombudsmen and their staff remaining with Audit Scotland?
- On page 86, Audit Scotland explains that indications from auditors suggest that remote audit has added approximately 25% to the time and cost of a large number of audits. Audit Scotland has commenced negotiations to agree a settlement for these additional unplanned costs and a provision has been included in the accounts as the financial liability cannot be accurately quantified at present. Please can you provide more information about these negotiations, whether other options (than settlements) were considered to meet these unplanned costs and what happens if all the costs cannot be recovered.
- Please can you provide an update on the timetable for ‘catching up’ on work delayed as a result of the pandemic.
- Fees and expenses to appointed audit firms are much higher than budget or prior year expenditure. To what extent have Audit Scotland committed to additional payments to these firms in advance of securing additional fees from those bodies being audited?
- Are there any indications that lower training costs might have contributed to the reduced pass performance which is indicated in the Annual Report?
I look forward to receiving a response from you by Monday 4 October.