Management Information Sheet

Norfolk Audit Services (NAS), as the County Council's internal auditors, carry out audits of LA maintained schools on behalf of the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial Services (the statutory Section 151 Officer), to provide independent assurance on schools' internal financial controls.

Between April 2019 and March 2020, we carried out a total of 28 traded school audits. The following is a summary of our top ten findings, with how many schools we found the issue in, shown in brackets for each one out of 28.

NAS strongly recommend that these findings are considered by your school, at your earliest convenience, and any necessary actions taken for improvements are addressed and implemented.

1. Official pre-numbered orders are not being raised for all goods and services except for utilities, rent, rates, and any payments due under a loan/lease agreement. (25/28)
• Examples of goods/services purchased where we found no purchase order was raised are: - minibus hire, broadband, subscriptions, books, licences, catering services, training e.g. first aid, memberships, coach travel, teaching supply cover, swimming lessons, advertising, sanitary waste disposal, shredding/confidential waste services, cleaning / caretaking services and general repairs e.g. lighting
2. Employment status checks for tax purposes on individuals engaged are not being carried out by the School as per Section 14.5 of the Finance Procedure Manual and the HMRC on line check is not used to verify individual's status. (21/28)
3. An annual independent check of the assets on the asset register is not being carried out and authorised by the Headteacher. (17/28)
4. Items of high value or those deemed to be attractive and portable are not being security marked. (15/28)
5. Bank paying in slips are not being signed and/or dated by the Headteacher after banking, to confirm that the amount paid in corresponds to the total amount on the School Banking Sheet as per the Finance Procedure Manual. (15/28)
6. A full asset register is not in place and kept up to date. (14/28)
7. Authorised signatories detailed within the School's Finance Policy are not being kept up to date. (6/28)
8. Purchasing cards are not being stored securely and/or the PIN is not being destroyed. (6/28)
9. Inappropriate purchasing card approver (not being senior to the purchasing card holder). (5/28)
10. The delivery stamp is not always being used on invoices / delivery or goods received notes to evidence the receipt and checking of goods and services. (5/28)