1. Sir Ian Andrews CBE TD
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
5
th
Floor Zone F Main Building
WHITEHALL LONDON SW1A 2HB
Telephone: 07803 248531
e-mail: icfandrews@fsmail.net
D/VCDS&2ndPUS/5/7/2
Karen Jordan
8 April 2009
Dear Karen,
Government Internal Audit Standards Review Oversight Board
I am delighted to able to tell you that the Government Internal Audit Standards
were formally launched at a conference which I attended yesterday in the Treasury for
Heads of Internal Audit from across central government and beyond. I did not want this
occasion to pass without recording my thanks and appreciation for the part you have
played through your membership of the Oversight Board over the last year or so.
We managed to have all the approvals in place in time for the Standards to be
published on the HM Treasury web site before they came into effect on 1 April - but it
was quite a close run thing! Despite the extensive consultation process which Steve
Barnes and his colleagues had conducted, the final discussions with Finance Directors
and Permanent Secretaries exposed a number of the concerns we had foreseen in the
Board about the readiness of some stakeholders to recognise the nature of the
relationship between the Head of Internal Audit and the Accounting Officer, and indeed
the Chair of the Audit Committee. Although there was full recognition of the importance
of the service there were different interpretations of what precisely were the
implications of direct reporting and performance appraisal. The subsequent exchanges
were, however, cathartic as they ensured that there could be no misunderstanding and
allowed both Gus O'Donnell to sign them off on behalf of the Permanent Secretary
community and the "Dear Accounting Officer" letter to be issued. It is now up to the
Heads of Internal Audit to make them work!
I am sure you would also wish to join me in thanking Steve and his colleagues
for all their hard work on our behalf.
Yours sincerely