Audit and Advisory Committee
About
The Audit and Advisory Committee (AAC) oversees the management of risk and audit issues, and reports to the Ombudsman. Committee responsibilities are set out below.
Financial reporting
Monitoring the integrity of the SPSO’s financial statements, including its annual and interim reports and any other formal announcement relating to its financial performance, reviewing significant financial reporting issues and judgements which they contain. Reviewing summary financial statements and any financial information contained in certain other documents, such as budget submissions.
Internal controls, performance and risk management systems
Reviewing the effectiveness of the SPSO’s internal financial controls, other internal controls, performance management, and risk management systems.
Whistleblowing
Reviewing the SPSO's arrangements for its employees to raise concerns, in confidence, about possible wrongdoing in financial reporting or other matters. Ensuring that these arrangements allow proportionate and independent investigation of such matters and appropriate follow up action.
Internal and external audit
Internal
Advise the Ombudsman in relation to: engaging suitable external auditors; reviewing and assessing internal audit requirements and approving annual internal audit work plan; reviewing all reports from those auditors; reviewing and monitoring the senior management team's responsiveness to the findings and recommendations of the auditor.
External
Oversee the relationship with the external auditor; meet regularly with the external auditor, including before and after the audit; meet the external auditor at least once a year, without members of the senior management team present, to discuss their remit and any issues arising from the audit; review and approve the annual audit plan and ensure it is consistent with the scope of the audit engagement; review the findings of the audit with the external auditor.
Annual Audit reports
Other responsibilities
The committee also review the effectiveness of the audit and raise any appropriate concerns with Audit Scotland; review any representation letter(s) requested by the external auditor before they are signed by the senior management team; review the letter and senior management team's response to the auditor's findings and recommendations.
Each year, as part of the SPSO's annual report, the chairman of the SPSO Audit and Advisory Committee (the AAC) produces a report on behalf of the committee. This report summarises the committee's work over the previous year and provides the committee's opinion in relation to SPSO's governance. In previous years, SPSO included a full version of this report in the SPSO annual report. For 2016/17 we included a summary in the annual report, with the full governance and accountability report available below.
Committee Members
Dr Tom Frawley CBE, Northern Ireland Ombudsman
Following graduation, Tom joined the National Health Service. In 1973 he was appointed Unit Administrator at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald and his career in the health service later took him to North and West Belfast and Lisburn.
In 1981 he became Chief Administrative Officer in the Western Health and Social Services Board, at the age of 31 the youngest person in the UK to be appointed to such a post. In 1985, following the implementation of the Griffiths Report, he was appointed as the Board's General Manager.
In September 2000 Tom became the Assembly Ombudsman and Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints. In 2001, as Ombudsman, the Standards and Privileges Committee of the Assembly asked that he become the interim Commissioner for Standards at the Assembly. In 2008 Tom was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List.
Dr Tom Frawley Declaration of Interests 2018 (PDF, 163KB)
Dr Jim McCormick
Dr Jim McCormick is Associate Director Scotland to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) and co-founder of research partnership McCormick-McDowell.
He is on Scottish Business in the Community’s Board and The Stroke Association’s Scotland Committee, and has advised government, the voluntary sector and independent funders.
Previously he was Director of the independent think-tank the Scottish Council Foundation (SCF) and a Research Associate with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in London. His main work interests include tackling poverty, the changing jobs market and wellbeing in later life.
Jim McCormick Declarations of Interests 2017 (PDF, 54KB)
Jean Couper CBE
Jean Couper CBE has extensive governance experience and has held a number of senior non-executive roles in public, private and third sector organisations including as a Member and Chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, Chairman of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, Member of the Accounts Commission Scotland, Director of Ombudsman Services Ltd and Chair of Aberlour Child Care Trust.
She is a Director of Catalyst Consulting and has over 30 years’ experience of advising public authorities and companies on matters of governance, organisation structure, strategy and performance. She is Chair of the Advisory Audit Board of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and is Chair and Trustee of several charities. In June 2006 she was awarded a CBE for services to the administration of justice.
Updated: March 8, 2018