Fife Council’s Audit Services’ Team has received top marks in their recent External Quality Assessment (EQA).

The Audit Services’ Team is responsible for ensuring the council gets the best value for public money across its services, complies with regulations and legislation, uses safe and secure processes, provides assurance on controls, governance and risk, and much more.

Conducted externally by Aberdeenshire Council’s Chief Internal Auditor Jamie Dale, the EQA recognised the excellent work the team has been doing across a range of internal audit activities.

The team was found to fully conform with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards, against which all public sector bodies across the UK are held, including Fife Council.

Cllr Dave Dempsey, Chair of Fife Council’s Standards, Audit and Risk Committee, recognised the fantastic work of the often-unsung Internal Audit team:

“Congratulations to the whole Internal Audit team for their almost perfect score in our EQA. The work our internal auditors do is not at all easy and frequently changes a great deal as standards and legislation are updated or enacted on a local, Scottish and UK-wide level.

“So much of the work the council does is public facing, but unsung heroes like our Internal Audit team do fantastic work behind the scenes keeping Services on track and making sure there's rigour applied to everything we do for the people of Fife. As councillors we rely on their support to scrutinise the council’s operations and ensure we're maintaining appropriate standards in our public service.”

The EQA included discussions with key members of staff and Elected Members, including Fife Council’s Service Manager – Audit & Risk Management, a review of the most recent self-assessment, and consideration of other relevant documents and information on their performance.

Assessment was considered across areas including purpose, authority, responsibility, independence, objectivity and managing internal audit activity.