Internal Audit Assurance Internal Audit at Thompson Rivers

Internal Audit Assurance Internal Audit at Thompson Rivers University – “The 5 W’s” October , 2014

We’re Here to Help! TRU Internal Audit

Who? Cathy Elliot – 0. 5 FTE – Internal Audit Officer Christina Duquette - 0. 85 FTE- Internal Audit Director We are University employees We are CPA/CA’s with Bachelor’s Degrees in Commerce Director is also a CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) and CRMA (Certification In Risk Management Assurance We are members of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) We report to the Audit Committee to help ensure Independence TRU Internal Audit

What is Internal Audit at TRU? Internal Audit Charter at TRU – Purpose: “Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes. ” (As per IIA’s International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing) please refer to website for full charter) TRU Internal Audit

When? Annual Audit Plan is approved by the Board of Directors Audit committee in November Audit Plan is developed using a risk assessment and with input from across the University and considers : • Strategic Plan • Output from Risk Management Programs • Audit Committee and or management specific concerns • Other trends including: emerging risks, significant changes in TRU departments, IT complexity, prior audit results , legislative changes and other external factors We audit throughout the year. TRU Internal Audit

Where and How The audit plan is a listing of audit engagements for the year which is based on the risk assessment This includes an estimate for the hours required to complete the planning, field work , meetings and writing the audit report The field work is mostly done in finance and procurement, we also plan to go to Williams Lake TRU Internal Audit

Why? We provide assurance to the Audit Committee in fulfilling their fiduciary duties Our role at the university is also to help faculties, schools and divisions by ensuring processes, procedures and policies are effective and are being followed. TRU Internal Audit

What is the process of “being audited”? • Initial contact “Engagement Letter • Develop Audit program • Sample Selection Planning Fieldwork • Interviews • Process mapping • Testing of Internal Controls or Policies • Transaction testing • Initial findings are shared with division head in draft report • Auditee has responsibility to respond to the findings • Once the report has been approved by appropriate level of management report is issued • Appropriate follow up on progress is scheduled Reporting

What areas are typically tested as part of an internal audit? The areas to be tested are dependent on the activities of the department. The most common areas that have been tested are: 1. Cash handling 2. Time approval 3. PCard transactions 4. Grants/contracts 5. Travel expense claims 6. Disbursements (purchase orders, payment requests, IDIs) 7. Policies and procedures TRU Internal Audit

Common Issues we report: Approving your own time Purchasing without appropriate spending authority Maintaining privacy of personally identifiable information Reloadable beverage cards without itemizing expenditures Meal expenses paid by Pcards or charged to a hotel room and also per diems claimed • Missing receipts. A proof of payment is not a receipt. • Lack of documentation of who is entertained or hosted • Prohibited purchases on Pcards (E. g. gift cards, alcohol, IT goods) • • • Any violation of University Policy TRU Internal Audit

Internal Audit is advocate for Whistle Blower Policy and Fraud Investigations Whistleblower Policy – Refer to Board Policy 18 -0 on TRU Web Confidential reporting of “Protected Disclosure” is made to the audit committee chair We do preliminary investigations of fraud or other improper acts We also received requests from campus community for these investigations, where it is warranted we do the work We are not certified fraud examiners – working on that……. TRU Internal Audit

We are here to help You • Offer suggestions for improvement • Advisory role We want to know how we are doing • • Starting in January, we will be sending an after-audit-survey to all auditees We want your feedback Were we professional, helpful, timely and did we add value? We will report on these feedback results on our website TRU Internal Audit

Questions? ? ? TRU Internal Audit