2023 Post-16 Audit Code of Practice

Like the Accounts Direction, the changes to the 2023 Post-16 Audit Code of Practice have been limited to the effects of the reclassification.

The major changes are set out below:

• It is expected that the auditor will review and take into consideration the additional College MPM Return to the 31 March 2023 that was submitted by the college earlier in the year.
• MPM and other obligations arising from reclassification have been added to the list of sources from which the general responsibilities of the corporation’s flow. This is further to the additional disclosures which must be made in the Statement of Responsibilities of the Members of the Corporation and the Statement of Regularity, Propriety and Compliance, as detailed above.
• The Regularity Self-Assessment Questionnaire has been updated to reflect the new requirements arising from reclassification. There are new questions this year that specifically relate to policies and procedures that should have been updated for the MPM guidance. Your auditor will need to see evidence of this as part of the audit.
• Retaining evidence’ has been expanded to include enquiries relating to consent for transactions and DfE approval for certain transactions. Where relevant, this should include evidence in relation to any
  instances where:
  
  1) Enquiries were made by ESFA or others as to whether consent was required before entering into a transaction, and the outcome;
  
  2) It would have been necessary to obtain approval for any transactions beyond the delegated financial authorities set out in the “Dear Accounting Officer” letter of 29 November 2022 and ESFA’s bite size guides.
  
  
• The ‘Regularity and Propriety testing’ section has been enhanced to capture the “Dear Accounting Officer” letter of 29 November 2022 and ESFA’s bite size guides which list the requirements arising from reclassification that colleges/college groups must follow. When concluding over regularity, the college’s auditor will need to take these into consideration. This includes the Managing Public Money requirements and failure to respond to the changes arising from reclassification by the college, in terms of updating the college’s systems and procedures may result in a modification to the regularity report.