Trainee auditor's blogs

Christmas parties, conferences and clients

31 January 2009

It’s the end of another month and its about time I got writing again. We had our Christmas Do (which I helped organise) which consisted of friendly banter, secret Santa and loads of turkey (it was that long ago). Not very audit-like and I won't mention who drank a little too much (it wasn't me… honest).

We also had our regional conference - As a region the whole of the London Directorate (over 200 auditors and performance staff, and counting) meet up for a series of presentations. The key theme here was how we meet the needs of our clients given the huge diversity of London - no one area is the same.

You may all be aware the Audit Commission doesn't simply look at financial audits, but at value for money, and the effectiveness of councils. We assess how they spend their money and how it impacts the local community. We are soon to be implementing the Comprehensive Area Assessment - I have to admit I don't touch much of this and don't know huge amounts of it - but its meant to be a fundamental shift in focus for the Audit Commission which will have a huge impact on the performance of public services (whether health, local government, fire, police etc)

Over Christmas I began starting the interim audit work at my local government client. This is the work which precedes the final accounts audit. Because local governments are so huge (hundreds of £millions go through each London borough every year) the audit is spread out, and is split into interim audit (conducted prior to the year end, where we flowchart all the key financial systems), and post-statements (where we test the figures post financial year end).

I have some quite technical stuff to go through - fixed assets (all buildings which the organisation owns), investments, pensions, cash and banking systems, treasury. It goes on. Its quite intense - but it’s the nitty gritty of what an auditor does. In fairness, being an auditor doesn't really involve many numbers - it focuses on how businesses work from the inside out, understanding how money is spent and where, and ultimately how well they spend and record it. There is some finance - but really it focuses on how organisations are built and how they can be improved.

Post New Year I have started at my health client - I am based at a Primary Care Trust (for those who don't know - PCTs receive money from the government and then spend it / distribute it locally through initiatives tailored to the local needs of the community). Its quite exciting as I have never been to a PCT before. The client itself is new for the Commission (we won a tender off a firm). The people are very nice but our budget/(days to complete our audit work) is tight, and the learning curve is steep. I enjoy it - but a lot of work to do alas.

I've also been on a personal development course since the New Year. This one was called 'Time Management' - great ! (no sarcasm there). I went with few expectations, and I have to admit I was very impressed. A lot of good points and its given me a basis for improving my performance at work. I now need to discuss the results with my line manager.

Coming up during the next month - I find out my exam results (fingers crossed), I start college again - assuming I don't have to resit, and I start a new health client. Oh and there's valentines day too!!!!.

Take care everyone - bye for now!

Posted by: LW